


Somnivolent's gonna crash.

by Bibliobibulus



Series: Running through oceans of change. [1]
Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, First story in a series to come, Juliette from "Juliette Character Overview", POV Female Character, Series:Running through oceans of change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-04
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2017-12-22 09:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 26,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/911372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bibliobibulus/pseuds/Bibliobibulus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A season 1 ending/season 2 rewrite started back in November for NaNoWriMo. <br/>Nick gets poisoned instead of Juliette and things go from there.</p><p>I just wanted Juliette in on everything and being kick-ass while weekly movie nights are a thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was written originally before season 2 got very far; this takes a verge away from canon but swerves back over from time to time. At this moment in time I still haven't seen the end of season 2 because I got too frustrated, and now I can't watch it on demand anymore so I have to track down links...
> 
> Updates will be steady at first, then sporadic while I work writing into my hectic life. So follow with caution; "slow but eventual" is the phrase for this one. I suggest subscribing if you do want to read, or if you like the emotional ride of checking for updates there's always that. I answer messages/comments and they are always welcome!
> 
> Beta'd by fabledshadow but if we've missed something just leave a message and we'll look at it. There's only so many times you can stare at words before they all blur together.

Juliette loved her job, the animals that she cared for, the people who brought them in, she even loved the long hours to an extent, but it was days like today that made it all weigh down on her. The patient load had been fully booked and then in the hour before clinic hours were over a pregnant English bulldog having complications came in, then a pixie-bob cat having an acute allergic reaction, AND a box of kittens were abandoned by the back door. Between the team they managed to birth the bulldog litter but the mother was in critical condition, the cat was already in anaphylactic shock and died before treatment could even be started, and the kittens were almost at death's door from neglect. Today couldn't end sooner.

She turned her phone back on as she settled into her car and saw that Nick had written to say he was on a case and not to wait up on him. It would be close to eleven by the time she'd get home, but she had a feeling that he wouldn't be back before she turned in for the night. Spaghetti Tuesday would just have to wait till next week. She couldn't find any energy or urge to feel any resentment or worry, not at the moment and less and less as the weeks went by.

She knew when they got together that their relationship would not be the smoothest and that she would always have to be in the dark to certain aspects of his work. But Nick had always been open about everything else about his life, and he'd been able to keep work mostly separate from their home life. They'd been happy and strong throughout all the ups and downs.

Then Nick's Aunt Marie died, and everything changed. Nick didn't want to talk about it; and that was fine, he could grieve however he needed to. Juliette gave him his space but he retreated further into it the longer time went by. Then he picked up more hours and cases, working sixteen plus hour days without a word of warning; most notable was their anniversary, which Nick had never explained other than he was on a case. That seemed to be his answer to everything these days. She had tried to bring up a couple of times that maybe he was still grieving, but anything concerning Aunt Marie was emphatically off limits; he closed down and changed the topic after first looking guilty. That was what was getting to her the most, his guilt. She could understand if he felt guilty about work, or missing anniversaries, but he would get this look at the strangest times, like he was caught in the act and then when he realized that she had no idea what just happened that he'd just kicked a puppy. And she really needed to go to bed because that line of thought clearly derailed.

12:00AM was when she finally burrowed into bed, Nick still absent but he could damn well deal with getting only a couple of hours of sleep, something that she was certainly not going to follow along with. Wait up- her ass.

2:00AM was when the bed dipped beside her. She snuffled awake long enough to grumble and drop back to sleep.

4:00AM was when she was ripped awake by agonizing screams. She jerked upright with her heart in her throat and a hand reaching for the nearest weapon, which apparently was the phone, which she was in mid swing to throw it at- Nick who was running into the bathroom.

"What is it?" she called after him and jumped up to follow. The door slammed shut and she heard it lock. "Nick? What the hell, are you ok?" The water started running but she could still hear Nick hyperventilating. "Damn it, Nick, are you ok?!" She started to run through possible injuries and what she would possibly need. She didn't get a good look at him but she didn't see any obvious blood. It sounded like the shower was running. "Nick, I'm coming in, ok?" There was no reply so she turned back to the room in search of something to push through the doorknob, she could push the latch but there wasn't anything near that would fit. A bobby pin folded open barely fit but it got the door open. Nick was standing in the shower in his sweatpants furiously scrubbing at his hair and face with his hands.

"Nick, what is wrong," she said slowly and carefully approached him.

"It's everywhere!" He yelled, not stopping in his attempts to remove whatever was on him. There didn't appear to be anything actually on him and she was starting to believe that he was either drugged or possibly in the midst of a nightmare.

"Nick, there isn't anything on you. You're ok." Nick stopped his frantic motions and turned towards her, a look of hopeful astonishment on his face.

"Juliette, oh god you're ok." He stepped out of the tub, leaving the water running and dripping water everywhere. He hugged her tight, soaking her through. She hugged him back while murmuring comfort.

"Come on hon, let's dry you off and sit you down and we can figure out what's going on." He nodded against her shoulder. She sat him on the closed toilet and turned off the shower. He stayed hunched and silent as she got him dried off, into dry clothes and sat down on the bed. As she had thought, there weren't any foreign substances or visible wounds on him, though his pulse and respiratory rate were still running fast. That coupled with his pupils still being fairly dilated in the light of the bedroom could mean he was under the effect of some drug or he was still terrified. Either seemed plausible at the moment. Thankfully his pupils were responsive and as the minutes went by he seemed to be able to focus better.

Nick rubbed at his face, “I’m fine, just give me a minute,” he said through his fingers. He sucked in a breath and dropped his hands. Meeting her eyes he smiled, thinly, "I'm fine now."

"What was that?" She asked, calmly but firmly.

"Just a really, really bad dream and I got a little confused."

"Just a little? Hon, you were screaming and ran to the shower."

"I'm fine," he insisted.

"But, Nick, that wasn't just-"

"I'm. Fine."

"Ok, fine." They stayed like that for a few moments, him sitting on the edge of the bed with his hands hanging limply between his knees, and her crouched in front of him. She squeezed his knee and smiled. "Well I don't know about you but I won't be able to go back to sleep any time soon. Want some tea?" He huffed and nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, that sounds great. Thanks Jules,"

Juliette knew that this wasn't just nothing, knew that he was not over whatever he had just experienced, but Nick did not talk about these things. Nick liked his space and she knew that if she pushed the issue then he would only withdraw and close down more. If he wanted to talk about it then he would in his own time.


	2. Chapter 2

They sat huddled together on the couch watching a movie until morning. Nick calmed down but never entirely let go of his tension. Juliette stayed in a haze of tiredness, not enough to doze off, but enough to not have the energy to refill her mug after it was empty. They had enough time after the movie to make a full breakfast and sit together. Nick didn't eat much, but she attributed this to the night he'd had. They sat talking about frivolous things like whose turn it was to weed the front yard. It was fantastic. You wouldn't even be able to tell that Nick had gone through the last night and had barely any sleep except for the bruising under his eyes, bags that she no doubt mirrored.

Juliette ended up leaving for work before Nick for the first time in a while as more animals were starting to come into the clinic, and she'd be putting in more hours. They parted with goodbyes and a lingering kiss.

Even though she was going on roughly four hours of sleep, she felt awake and energetic as she drove into work. She even found herself whistling along to the radio. This upswing didn't even last till her lunch break, which was taken late, and the day only went downhill from there. She was lagging by noon and decided to send a message to Nick teasing him about coffee consumption and the downfalls of caffeine addiction. It was a day full with back to back routine checkups, which made the day drone on, but it was thankfully no repeat of the previous day. By the time that she finished charting, all the cases were gone and no emergencies had come in. She was able to finally slip out before anyone else wanted something from her.

Juliette checked her phone as she settled into her car; Nick hadn't written back, nor had he sent anything about working late or what they would do for dinner. It was his normal night to put it together. Maybe he was surprising her. Maybe he was engrossed in a case, or even passed out early. She mostly hoped that the last was true. Nick was normally a fairly laid back guy, even with a job as stressful as being a detective, but he could be terrible on little sleep: short, cranky, and snappish are all traits of sleepless Nick. He always apologized afterward and was contrite and affectionate, but it was like he was another person at times. Not that she was a perfectly cheerful person with too few hours behind her. They were just better people when they slept properly.

Nick was not home when she got there. Juliette ended up reheating leftovers and eating dinner while sorting through the mail. She sent off another text to Nick asking if he had fallen asleep at the office, and another to Hank just in case. Except for Nick's absence it was all terribly domestic. Nick finally wrote back apologizing profusely and explaining that they had just received a new case. He couldn't talk at the moment and he would explain later when he got home. He didn't know when he was getting back and she shouldn't wait up for him. She sighed to herself, of course, she shouldn't have even worried. After sorting the mail and clearing the dishes she decided to pour herself some wine. Why not, there was nothing planned for the night. There wasn't really anything on television or DVD that she wanted to watch so she wound up on the couch with her laptop going between various blogs. This took up a good half hour before she began nodding off. It was still pretty early but she needed to catch up on her sleep. Nick probably wasn't going to be home before midnight again anyways.  


Sure enough Nick was not there when she finally fell asleep, nor was he in bed when she woke up the next morning. The bed was unslept in on his side. This was different. Nick might have the odd late night but he always came home. Juliette grabbed her phone- no messages. She got up and quickly put on a robe before going downstairs, maybe he had fallen asleep on the couch. But Nick wasn't there, and there was no sign that he had come home at all. She dialed his phone and tried not to panic. This wasn't going to be the one time, this was just him getting caught up in the case. He didn't write because he didn't want to wake her. He was safe in the office slumped over his computer. The phone went straight to voice-mail. Now she was beginning to panic. Juliette dialed Hank's phone, muttering to herself as it rang, and rang.

"H'llo?" Hank's tired voice finally came through.

"Hey, Hank, it's Juliette."

"Hey,"

"Uh, sorry to wake you but do you know where Nick is?"

"S'no problem. Yeah, he said he, uh, was going home after we wrapped up. He's not there?" Halfway through he grunted as though moving and his words came smoother.

"No, and I haven't heard from him since last night."

"Huh, and he's not answering his phone?" Hank voice had turned sharp, moving into cop mode without effort.

"It's dead, or off, went straight to voice-mail. I figured he's fallen asleep at the desk again."

"We wrapped up around 3am. Do you want me to call around?"

"No, it's ok, I'm sure he'll turn up soon."

"Well-"

"And if he doesn't then I'll call around. You need your downtime."

"Ok, well, I'll bug him tonight. Give him hell for you, yeah?"

"Thanks, get some sleep."

"Mmhmm," he muttered, sounding like he was already falling asleep as the line went dead. 

So, that conversation really didn't put her concerns to rest. Where in the world had Nick wandered off at 3am? She went over every possibility as she got ready for work, most of which were equally implausible and horrific. Eventually she had to tell herself to stop, she was not going to dwell on this, she was going to go to work, try Nick again later, and if she didn't hear from him or Hank by the time she got home then she was going to march straight to the precinct, and then she was going to lose her cool. But right now she was going to work.

He finally wrote at 11am, a stumbling, contrite message where he claimed he lost track of time and was home. Juliette was both relieved and furious. He lost track of time. At 3am? For eight hours and had nothing to add to that? What did he do, go out drinking all morning? No, not doing this. She didn't need this stress; it wasn't even halfway through her shift yet. He would explain later, and even Hank said he would give him hell. She breathed in and out slowly several times with her eyes closed. In, and out. Back to the moment. She had a Flemish Giant to neuter, and you did not neuter when angry.


	3. Chapter 3

Nick was sitting on the couch, staring at his laptop screen, and scrolling vaguely when she got home.         

“Hi,” he said without turning around.

“Uh, hello.” She put her bag down on her desk and stood looking him over, wondering how she could say “where the hell were you” without coming out and saying that. “Have you heard from Hank?” She hedged and leaned her hip against the desk.

“Hank? No, why? We have the day off.” Nick looked up at her, and she noted the bags under his eyes, the pallor, the too wide eyes.

“Oh, I talked to him this morning. Both of us couldn't get ahold of you, and he said he was going to call later,” she said with a shrug of a shoulder.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” he winced, “I kind of fell asleep while I was reading and didn't realize my phone was off,” he said and turned back to the screen.

“You were reading?” She said slowly, crossing her arms and tilting her head down to really look at him; he was wearing the same clothing he had been yesterday. In fact, they were the same ones he had put on the night after his nightmare. He sat hunched in on himself with none of the usual grand slouch that he could adopt across the couch. His hair was tousled as though he had been roughing it with his hands and forgetting to put it straight.

“Yes, I do that sometimes,” he said testily, face drawing up and going hard. She stilled, processing the harsh tone and wondering just how this conversation had turned this direction; this could easily turn into an argument if they didn't catch themselves. It hadn’t happened for awhile, but they were happening with more frequency than in the past. Nick sighed and put his face in his hands, rubbing tiredly into his palms. “Look, I'm sorry, I'm just tired, this last case got to me more than I thought it did.”

“Well you didn't sleep for long did you? Why are you still up? Can't sleep?” Juliette said as she let her arms drop and walked over to sit on the arm of the couch.

“Yeah,” he said and scrubbed at his hair “I just couldn't get to sleep.” He hung his head, cheek resting in his palm, arm propped on his knee.   

“Did you have another nightmare?” Juliette asked tentatively.

“No, I don't know I just couldn't stay asleep. Figured I'd just stay up since I couldn't, but I really haven't done anything all day.” Nick breathed in deeply and let it out slowly. “How was work?” he asked and sat back to look up at her.

“It was work,” she shrugged, “nobody died so it was a pretty good day,” she said, smiling slightly.          

He chuckled softly, “yeah sounds like it.” Then he got quiet, just staring down at the ground.

“Hey, I'm sorry I didn't think about that. That case was a pretty rough one huh? Do you want to talk about it?” She asked gently.

“No,” he exhaled, “it wasn’t even that bad. Heh, Wu’s jokes didn’t even make me wanna punch him.”

“Well, that is a good day.” They exchanged slight smiles, the silence clearer now. “So, what sounds good for dinner?”

“I don’t really care. I’m not that hungry.”

“Did you even eat today?” Nick bit his lip, something he usually did when he contrite. “ You feeling okay? ‘Cause you might be getting sick.”

“Maybe, I dunno, I just haven’t been hungry.”

“Well what about take out?”

“Sure, get whatever sounds good to you. I might pick at some of it.”

“Okay, but you better call Hank before he thinks you’re dead in a ditch somewhere.” Juliette said and walked into the kitchen to get out their menus.

“Well, he would be one of the first people to hear about it if I was.”

“Yeah, not as comforting as you might have thought that was!” She called from the kitchen. While looking through menus and leaning on the counter she listened vaguely to Nick’s side of the following conversation. 

From the sound of it Hank was carrying through with his threat of giving Nick hell for his disappearing act. Reading, what did that even mean? Did he go down to the library and look into something because of the case? Because he really wasn’t much of an enjoyment reader, didn’t even read in bed.Maybe that’s where he had been disappearing to in the last few months. Going to the library to go deeper into case research. But she knew for a fact that he had not been following up on cases as much as he claimed to be, because she did know Hank, and while they might not be close friends, they did keep in touch. 

She tried not to snoop too much into his business, it wasn’t as though she was keeping tabs on him or anything. It’s just that there was a time where she realized that he was keeping things from her. Some time after his aunt died actually. That’s when everything started to change. He started staying out longer, canceling more and more dinners, even their anniversary. She chalked it up to him going deeper into his work. His way of coping. But there were times when, like today, she couldn’t get ahold of him, when Hank couldn’t give an insight into the matter, and when he too was looking for him.

She had entertained the idea that maybe he was having an affair, which was why she had been so suspicious with that case with the firedancer. Then the woman had turned out to be disturbed, and Juliette had been kidnapped, and it had all just so bizarre. She still didn’t entirely know what that whole thing had been about, but she had met Monroe after the fiasco so that had been interesting. He seemed to have more of a connection with Nick than they let off though; their stories just hadn't meshed.

They ended up sitting around on the couch, watching a movie and picking through dinner. Nick barely ate anything, and Juliette found herself with less of an appetite than she normally would. While he was obviously exhausted and not entirely in his head, Nick didn't seem eager to actually go to bed. After dinner they lazed around the house, reading and browsing on their computers respectfully. It wasn't until 10 that Juliette mentioned that they should really go to bed. They did have work in the morning. He begged off, claiming that he was not quite ready yet and would stay downstairs so as not to bother her. She shouldn't worry. 

She did. He was obviously exhausted, the bruising under his eyes was becoming darker, and his eyes hadn't fully opened in hours. While there was obviously more to it, she didn’t push the issue. He would probably fall asleep on the couch when he got tired enough. She only hoped that he would actually get some sleep; while he had gone several days without much sleep in the past, it was the occasional nature of his job, it never ended well.

She asked if he was sure, pointing out that he needed to catch up on sleep. He snapped at her, yes he knew, yes he would go to bed but only when he was ready. 

Nope. She turned around and headed upstairs. None of this, if he was going to close down and become irritable then he could keep himself company. She stayed angry the whole time getting ready for bed, muttering as she brushed her teeth. Was Nick having a breakdown? The case apparently was a stressful one and he had been putting in more hours lately. Well, ever since his aunt died. And wasn't that right back to the beginning of all of this?  What had he gone through, what was he going through, she sure didn't know because he wasn't telling her. She was both worried and even angrier at this thought. This was supposed to be a partnership, they were supposed to be supporting each other and that was not what was going on here. There was only so much that she could try to help him before he shut her out, and that is what he had just done.

She was going to back off and leave him to it. Maybe he just needed to get through this himself. 

This had happened to differing degrees in the past, he just wasn't that open of a person when it came to personal issues. It wasn't much of a problem most of the time, until it became one. He was open and affable for most of the time, but sometimes, especially on personal topics, he just didn’t want to discuss it. There were times when he acted as though a topic change and a smile solved the problem.    

These thoughts kept her up later than she liked, but at least she got some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay; I meant to post this Friday but me and my betas are doing GISHWHES and got carried away with planning.
> 
> That was a lot of dialogue. Hopefully not to much.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning when she came downstairs she found him exactly where she had left him, and it appeared that he had not slept. He was red-eyed, slumped, disheveled, lethargic, and very crabby. He didn’t want to talk and went about getting ready for work mechanically. Juliette kept her distance and let him go about it, knowing that nothing was going to get done if she did confront him. She didn’t like it though. This would not be the first time that he had gone several days with little sleep, but this was the first time that she could remember that he had gone without any sleep. The situation was beginning to concern her medically leveled mind. She decided that she would confront him about it that evening and would go to his department head if need be.

 

It didn’t actually come to that. Juliette was in her office between patients when she got a call from Hank. Nick was being sent home on forced medical leave. He had at first insisted that he was fine, but his performance was noticeably compromised and they were ordering a 72 hour minimum leave. Hank was worried and was wondering if Juliette might be able to get time off work as well. She knew that she could, seeing as she had plenty of PTO saved up and there was another veterinarian on call and available. She filled in the clinic, wrapped up her paperwork, and headed home.

 

The sight that greeted her was much the same as that morning. Nick did not want to talk about it, he was agitated, and now he was just staring into space, unblinking and unfocused. He continued doing it throughout the day and she was getting more and more worried. When he did respond it was with nods and broken sentences. He wouldn't even try to sleep, just went between sitting and staring, to wandering around the house. She tried to unobtrusively follow him around. Between baking, reading, getting the laundry, and pretending to clean up the house she might as well have not pretended, he didn't seem to notice her unless she addressed him, and even then it took several attempts before getting a response. The apathy lasted for three hours and then he became manic.

 

He suddenly became energetic and couldn't sit still. He started standing and sitting then wandering around the house, just picking up things and setting them back down. Then he started talking to her about the case that he and Hank had been briefed on that morning. He asked how she thought it was going. What was going on. How was Hank doing. She didn't know how to answer but tried to follow his apparent need for conversation.

 

He kept checking his phone, as though he forgot the time again and again, then he started sending texts to Hank. She pointed out that Hank had said that he would sneak updates to him even though the Captain had told Nick that he was cut off and on sick leave. She pointed this out and Nick agreed until he apparently forgot and would send one again. He got a couple responses throughout the day but eventually Nick turned off his phone and set it aside. This again lasted for only so long before he would grab it and turn it back on. 

 

Then he wound up on the computer, which had him occupied for about an hour before he was back to wandering around. He went through his case notes and started organizing them, they were scattered all over the table. It didn't seem that he got anything productive done, but it kept him occupied until he crashed. He was then right back to the apathy and the sitting around. This was all so painful to watch. Juliette had no idea what to do, but she tried to be as supportive as she could.

 

Nick didn’t want to go to bed again. Juliette didn’t push the issue but sat up with him on the couch reading as he stared into space and occasionally picked up his phone. She managed to stay awake until at least midnight, but awoke the next morning curled up on her side of the couch with a sore back. 

 

Nick wasn’t there, and she panicked for a moment before hearing someone banging around in the kitchen. She stretched as she went to investigate, finding Nick in the middle of a trashed kitchen apparently cooking.    

 

 “I’ll clean this up!” He shouted, having also apparently lost all volume control when he saw her.      

 

  “Ok. What are you making?” She drawled, crossing her arms and leaning against the entryway.        

 

“Breakfast,” he said at a much less painful level.        

 

“Ok then, can I help?” She asked, taking a step forward.       

 

 “No! No, it’s a surprise. Just go sit and I’ll bring it out,” he said and dropped a bowl with wide-flung arms. Well, he had swung back to being energetic, hopefully it would last long enough for him to clean up after himself. 

 

She went and sat at the table, pulling out her phone and checking her emails. Eventually Nick came out with a makeshift tray of food, using a cookie sheet to carry everything, which he set down with a flourish and a grin just on this side of manic. He’d put together an impressive, if cobbled-together meal. They ate in silence, neither of them having anything in particular to say. Nick couldn’t hold still the entire time, knee bouncing vigorously and shaking the table slightly.  She ignored it, it not being worth the trouble. Nick hardly ate anything and he started fading fast, slowly slumping further forwards until he was resting his chin on his palm. He became unresponsive and listless.        

 

She ended up cleaning up the mess, first making scones for the sake of something to do, and because why the hell not? Nick eventually moved to the couch, but continued with his silence.

 

Juliette was sitting at her desk, reading up on insomnia and stress responses when the house phone rang. Not a common occurrence, and most of the people that did call that number were telemarketers.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Oh, hello, Juliette. Yes, this is Monroe,” he said, sounding thrown off that she had answered.

 

“Hi, haven’t heard from you in a while. How have you been?” She leaned forward to see Nick on the couch, but he hadn’t made any indication that he had noticed the phone ringing. She sat back as he started talking.

 

“Yeah, yes, I’m fine. I’ve been keeping busy. Oh, I tried a new recipe for that vegan salmon that came out great. But well, that’s not why I called. I heard that Nick wasn’t feeling well. I was actually trying to call him.”

 

“Yeah, his cell has been turned off for awhile now.”

 

“Oh, well I heard that he was having trouble sleeping, and I do too sometimes and there’s this tea that I swear by. I thought that he might want to try it since he seemed to be getting pretty desperate.”

 

“Oh, when did you hear from him?” She thought back to Nick’s frantic texting, maybe he wasn’t just bugging Hank. She didn’t think that him and Monroe had kept in touch; she never heard Nick talk about him.

 

“The other day,” he said carefully, “I mean, it’s no problem; I have a bunch of the stuff right now. Actually, is Nick available because I wanted to ask him about it.”

 

“Well, he’s here but,” she leaned forward again, trying to catch Nick’s eyes but with no luck, so she thumped back into the chair. “But, he’s really not available to talk. He’s- he’s not quite in the moment.”

 

“Um, well, if you guys are home, because I could just drop some off-”

 

“You know what, Monroe. Yeah, it might be good for him to see another face. I don’t know about the tea but that might help even. I baked some scones earlier and I know that the both of us can’t eat them all.”

 

“Oh, well, I can’t say no to scones. I mean, who can, right?” He asked and huffed out a laugh.

 

“Ok, so, we’re just both at home so whenever is good for you. Do you remember how to get here?”

 

“Yeah, no problem. Ok, so I’ll see you guys in a bit. Bye!”

 

“Bye.” she leaned over to hang up the phone, then sat back and worried at her lip. There was something about that conversation that felt off. She couldn’t quite point it out, but there was just a way that Monroe spoke. There had been a weird kind of stress to his pauses, as though searching for the right words. It didn't sit right with her.

 

Thinking about it she remembered the same kind of conversation that time he'd come over to dinner. She knew that him and Nick had been hiding something, but what and why they felt the need to do so eluded her. It didn't seem important enough to push, not with how her and Nick had been doing better. Now that she knew that they kept in touch maybe she could get Monroe to mention something. Nick might have talked to him about if he was under extra stress at work.        

 

“Hey, hun, that was Monroe; he said that he was worried about you and he’s coming over with some tea that he thinks might help you sleep,” she said as she got up and came into the living room, making sure that she stayed in Nick’s line of sight and tilting her head to try and meet his eyes. He continued to stare into space, seemingly not hearing her. Then his eyes widened and he turned to her abruptly, leaning his elbows on the arm of the couch.        

 

“Monroe? What did he say? Did he know anything?” He said in one breath. His eyes wide, red, and somehow both hopeful and panicked.        

“He said he had heard from you the other day and he thought that you seemed to be getting desperate. Then he said he had some kind of tea that helps him sleep that you might want to try. He’s coming over sometime tonight so you can ask him. Why, what would he know about?” She crossed her arms and leaned away. What in the world could have Nick so panicked? Or maybe this was just paranoia setting in.      

 

  “Nothing, I- nothing,” he slumped and buried his face into his crossed arms.        

“Ok, just, try and rest your eyes. He’ll be here sometime.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that the spacing ended up ok here, I'm doing a lot more writing, editing, and posting on my phone these days and it seems like formatting fouls up somewhere inevitably.


	5. Chapter 5

When the doorbell eventually rang Nick hadn’t actually moved on the couch, and she didn’t dare test the theory, but it appeared that he had started nodding off finally. She froze at the sudden noise, hoping against hope that Nick hadn’t been disturbed by it. She turned, saw that while he hadn’t moved, his eyes had opened, and as quietly as she could she dashed to the door to stop it ringing again.

There really could only be one person who would be on the other side but she still swiftly checked through the window. She opened the door and met Monroe’s eye, making a quieting motion while gesturing him in.  
Monroe pursed his lips and nodded, holding out a glass jar full of, assuming, the tea.

“I didn’t know where to park so I’m down a house,” Monroe mouthed silently, stepping into the entryway and handing her the jar.

“It’s ok, and just try to be quiet; I think Nick is finally starting to pass out,” Juliette whispered and held the tea up to the light. “What’s in this anyway?”

“Well, there’s a few things; it’s a mixture. Sort of like Sleepytime tea, but it has a few other herbs mixed in too,” Monroe whispered and pointed at something in the jar,

“It’s tastes more like licorice, Nick’s not allergic to anything is he? Because there is kinda of a blend in this.”

“No, he’s not,” Nick muttered from the living room.

“Wow, you look like hell,” Monroe said, walking into the living room and seeing Nick slumped over the couch.

Juliette went into the kitchen and put the kettle on, not actively trying to listen in but still hearing them through the short distance.

“Thanks,” Nick grumbled, sounding like his face was still buried in his crossed arms.

“I mean, but- wow, when was the last time you actually slept?”

“Dunno, couple of days?”

“Yeah, because that’s gotta be healthy. So, you can’t sleep at all?”

“Nope.” Juliette finished and went to lean against the entry between kitchen and living room in time to see Monroe bend closer to Nick and whisper,

“Have you been having more than normally vivid nightmares?” At this Nick finally looked up.

“Monroe, what do you know?” Nick asked, hope and excitement creeping into his voice, more of a stage whisper than an actual one.

“Have you eaten or drunk anything out of the ordinary lately?”

“No, no appetite,” Nick sat up more, eyebrows furrowing with concentration.

“Well, I consulted with Rosalee and we think that you might have been poisoned.” Juliette couldn’t pretend not to hear them anymore and jolted away from the wall.

“What? Nick, you’re poisoned? What’s going on?”

“Jules, it’s fine,” Nick muttered, not meeting her eyes.

“No, Nick, this is serious. If you’ve got something in your system then you need to go to the hospital.”

“Uh, well, if it’s what I think it might be then they won’t even know what to do or be able to detect it,” Monroe said, fidgeting in place and eyes darting to the side.

“That doesn’t even make any sense, he can’t just sit around and hope that whatever it is leaves his system safely. Who knows how detox will affect him. No, Nick, we need to take you in.” Juliette said and started taking out her phone.

“Well, you’re actually looking at the detox now,” Monroe said hurriedly, his hand abortively darting out towards her.

“And how do you even know about this then? Huh, if a hospital doesn’t even know about it and won't be able to detect it?” She demanded, her phone still in hand as she pointed at him.

“It's. Uh, it’s a street drug, it's new, that's why they wouldn’t be able to detect it," Monroe smiled, probably to be reassuring, but it set right off Juliette's bullshit-detector.

“Right, a new street drug, that you know all about, a hospital wouldn’t be able to detect, and that I've never even heard of. Just because I'm a veterinarian doesn't mean I don't know anything about human physiology or what's going on in that area of medicine.”

“Jules, really, I don't need to go to the hospital-”

“Really Nick? Because your heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate have notably decreased all day after being elevated the last two days. You're perspiring but don’t have a fever. You started twitching sporadically this morning. I was starting to think that you were going through withdrawals, which we know now you basically are. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to go through detox without medical supervision? Because I really don't want to watch you go into cardiac arrest," she said, voice getting louder as she finished.

“Jules they won't even know what to do with it, it’s probably a Zaubertrank.”

“A what?”

“A-that’s what drugs like that are called-” Monroe cut in, stuttering and apparently trying to speak over Nick.

"They’re a spell, or potion, not really sure about that stuff yet. But like with Hank,” Nick continued, not seeming to have heard Monroe.

“Nick, you're not making any sense,” Juliette said slowly, her face drawing up with concern, and arms falling to her side.

“You know, I wouldn't even be surprised if Adalind did it,” he continued, not seeming to actually be speaking to them, more so speaking to himself. “She’s the best fit with motive and means. Especially since she's a Hexenbiest, or she was, but apparently anyone can make potions, not just witches.” He turned to Monroe and asked “Has Rosalee ever explained that?”

“Um, I- you know there’s just some things I don’t know,” Monroe said, hunched over slightly with his face in his palm. Nick froze. He started breathing faster and turned to Juliette with terror-wide eyes.

“I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.”

“Nick, you’re delusional and rambling and might want to stop talking,” Monroe bit out, faltering between words.

“You, hush,” Juliette snapped and pointed at Monroe. She wanted to yell, wanted for Nick to start making sense, wanted all of this to make sense, but she knew it wouldn't help. She needed to keep a level head, needed to try and keep Nick calm and taking. “Now, hun. Nick, why do you think that Adalind is a- a witch and poisoned you?” She moved closer, leaning against the couch and spoke soothingly.

“She's not a witch, she's a Hexenbiest, or she was before I turned her back into a human. I don’t actually know how that works,” Nick spoke all in a rush, tripping over some of the words in his haste. “She had Hank under a spell and almost killed Wu with it, but Monroe and Rosalee helped to save them. They're great like that, I'd be dead without them. I don't think I say that enough, thanks for helping with the whole Grimm thing man,” Nick stood up and hugged Monroe, thumping him on the back while Monroe awkwardly hugged him back. Monroe met Juliette’s confused and concerned eyes and gave her a weak smile. Nick pulled away after a few moments, well past the usually accepted hug length. He turned back to Juliette, but didn’t raise his head to meet her eyes.“You should just ignore me, I’m obviously delusional right now.”

“It's ok Nick, maybe if you drink your tea you can sleep for a while, ok?” She levered him, passive, down onto the couch. “Why don't you help me get the tea made?” She said to Monroe, going into the kitchen without waiting for a response.

“Um, ok,” he muttered and followed.

Juliette went to the kettle and turned it back on, it having clicked off while they were talking. She faced Monroe, crossing her arms and squaring him up. “So, I don’t know what’s going on here, but you obviously do, and you better start talking just as soon as Nick finally calms down. Just tell me this, is he poisoned and will going to the hospital actually help him?”

Monroe looked her in the eyes, tensed and hesitant as though weighing his words. His shoulders dropped and he looked contrite; it didn't look like it was a position he was used to being in. After a tense moment he sighed and nodded minutely, not breaking eye contact.

“Yes, it seems that way. I’m not an expert on the topic by any means, but a friend of ours is as close to one as I know of. I know it doesn’t really make any sense,” his mouth twitched sideways, looking apologetic, “but this really isn’t anything that they are prepared to deal with.” Juliette nodded to herself, taking in the slight possibility of there being truth in what he was saying.

“Ok, let’s see if this tea helps him sleep, then me and you are having a long conversation. I want to know the whole story.”

“Hey, hey, uh, I don’t know. That’s a long and crazy story that you really might not be ready to hear, and I don’t think I’m the best to tell it. It should come from Nick.”

"Tough, Nick can’t tell it right now and I can take any crazy you’ve got.”

“Alright, alright, but don’t blame me if your worldview can’t stand up to it. I do not deal well with crying.”

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about there,” she picked up the tea and walked past him, meeting his eyes with challenge and giving a wry smile. They came into the living room, where Nick was back to being slumped over on the couch. “Here, drink as much of this as you can and we’ll get you up and in bed.”

Nick took the tea with both hands, barely able to grasp the small mug and bring it to his mouth. He took a sip, more so breathing into the mug than taking an actual drink.

“Juliette, I’m so sorry. I wanted to tell you but I wanted to keep you safe and then everything got so out of hand and I almost did so many times. So many times, but then something would happen and I just wanted to keep everything separate but I can’t. I can’t keep lying,” Nick stumbled out with panting breaths, mug still up to his face as though he’d forgotten it was there there. “ I’ll tell you everything, everything that’s happened. I-”

“Shhh, Nick calm down, it’s ok. Just breath, ok honey?” Juliette soothed when she saw his face flush with exertion and stress. “Try another sip. Can you drink a little more?” Nick almost nodded but stopped himself before spilling tea. He sipped at it, eyes drooping more and more as the warmth soaked in.

When he jerked in place, rocking and slopping tea over onto his chin but barely reacting, Juliette took the mug from his slack hands and set it on the table.

“Ok, let’s get you up to bed.” It wasn’t too much of a struggle to get Nick up into bed, but Juliette was holding him up for part of the way. He wasn’t really awake for the trip, seeming to have finally sucummed to what had to be severe exhaustion. She wondered if it was just time that allowed it, if the tea had helped, or maybe the poison was really leaving his system. Even the stress of her finding out about whatever it was that he had been keeping secret could have tipped him over the edge. Whatever it had been, she was thankful that he at least tired enough to try and sleep. She settled him in the bed, leaving his clothes on and settled the comforter up to his chest. He was muttering something and she hushed him softly, making out only a couple of words, “-m sorry, sorry, love you.” She looked him over and turned to go, turning the bedside lamp on in case he woke up panicking.

“Jules? Don’t leave, please,” Nick whispered as she got to the door. She stopped, pausing to think over the request, knowing that he did not refer to her staying in the room.

“I’m still here Nick. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll still be here when you wake up.”

“K,” he muttered, his breathing going steady and slow. She waited in case he had anything else to add, then left, leaving the door partially open.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was a longer wait then I was planning on. I have the next chapter written and ready for my beta so the next won't be a day and forever.
> 
> Ok, lots of talking. I swear there will be action in this story but there is a lot of character catching up till we get there. And I think the German is ok here (in context of the show), but I think I got a couple of plurals wrong.
> 
> \---------------------------------------------------------------  
> \---------------------------------------------------------------

Monroe wasn’t in the living room when she came down. Anger burned through her at the thought of him running away just when she would finally get answers. When she was about to give up, a noise drew her to the kitchen where she found him looking into a cupboard.

“Oh,” he said, turning and letting go of the door with a sheepish smile, “I was going to make some tea or something for the upcoming awkward conversation. I don't know about you, but coffee sounds a lot better." 

"Sure, that does sound good." Some formality sounded welcoming in all of the chaos, so Juliette played host and got the coffee out of the freezer. 

"Huh, he always struck me as more of an instant coffee or Folgers kind of a guy," he said when he saw the brand. 

"He usually doesn't even have time, this is all mine." He filled the pot with water as she measured out the grinds. They worked in silence, then leaned on the counters as the coffee brewed. 

"You know, you can get a much richer brew out of a french press. I love that it's the right size for one person," he said in a clumsy attempt at breaking the silence. 

"I thought about it, but just never bought one." She decided to be sociable and go along with the idle conversation, if that made him feel better and calmed him down. He did save her life once and even if he had been keeping secrets, and god knew what, with Nick she could be civil, hell it might even get him talking more. 

When they had their coffee made to their liking they sat down in the living room with Juliette on the couch and Monroe in the chair across the coffee table from her. 

She took a steadying breath before starting, “Nick is not in fact insane, stressed and apparently poisoned, but not insane. So what is going on? You’re not a private investigator. I’ve known that for awhile. You don’t have anything posted online for it, in fact you’re only listed for your clock making and repairing business. I thought that maybe you were really careful about your identity, but no one can fake being that enthusiastic about clocks. So how do you really know Nick and what was he talking about?” She finished by taking a sip.

He stared at her silently for a moment. "Wow, jumping right in. Ok, yeah, deep end here we go." He took a small sip and started after a deep sigh. "Ok, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know but it’s going to be really freaking weird.” 

“I can handle weird,” she raised an eyebrow and braced herself for whatever he was about to say. But he stalled, opened his mouth and closed it. 

“It's hard to know where to start," he said, mouth twisting wryly.

"So start somewhere, anywhere,” she said, not entirely holding back her frustration. 

"Well, I know Nick because there was a case a while back-wow almost a year, where a girl went missing; I guess a few had." 

"I remember that. You said that you helped find out who the killer was because of their boots.” 

“Well, that's partially true. It was my postman but I tracked him down, well, by tracking him and that's how we found his cabin in the woods.” 

“What do you mean you tracked them?” 

“I tracked him. It wasn't really that hard, his scent was all over the place. He was another Blutbad. Nick was completely clueless back then.” He paused, taking a drink and looking generally uncomfortable. “He had no idea what was happening. He'd only just became a Grimm-” 

“What are you talking about?” She cut in, angry and no longer able to keep calm in the face of the strange terms and a story without context. 

“Oh, wow, ok, this is kind of out of order. I said it was hard to know where to start. Ok, well, have you ever thought there was something more to someone? Something kind of weird, like," he set the mug down and leaned forward, "like you thought that their eyes changed color? Or someone's teeth looked longer than they should have been when they smiled?" 

"You sound like you're talking about Little Red Riding Hood." 

"Heh, uh, yeah actually that's closer to on topic than you'd think," he said while tilting his hands apologetically. She stared at his hands, feeling a little numb. He moved his hands a lot when he talked, and nodded and shook his head. She wondered if he realized he did that. 

"Maybe," she finally said, looking down into her mug. There was Margarate, who sometimes, when she is really angry over about the condition of an animal that comes in, her eyes seem to sheen. Juliette could swear she'd seen a snarl full of fangs but that was impossible, an over imaginative brain making connections to something she saw daily. But what about Thom Carson’s horses and the thing that attacked them? The unknown DNA sample. 

What if the stories were true? 

“Oh, you have? Wow, usually people can't handle seeing even that. Well, there are all kinds of not entirely human folk running around. Some are more common than others and some are nastier than others but on the whole we've lived side by side with humans for as far back as we can figure.” 

“We?” 

“Yeah, I'm a Blutbad, a Wieder Blutbad to be exact, I'm reformed. Though it's been harder with Nick dragging me into his brand of crazy. For the most part we look human, but we can sort of change, it's called Woging and most people can't see it; it's a kind of mental safety measure, most people can't handle the concept of not being the only species and so they don't see it. We're called Wesen, by the way,” he paused, and picked up the mug again to take a drink. 

Juliette used the momentary break to collect her thoughts. What he was saying was really freaking weird, impossible even; there are people walking around who aren't human. Who don't have human DNA. Who have kept themselves hidden from the public for- forever? There was no way a population, of whatever numbers, could avoid all the blood-draws throughout a lifetime. Unless he was saying there was two forms: a human one, and a-a Woging one? But biology doesn't work that way. The world doesn't work that way. He had to be lying, making it all up, but why?

“Hey, it's a lot to take in. Don't hurt yourself or anything because I think Nick would actually kill me if I broke his-uh, girlfriend?” He paused, looking apologetic and she nodded so that he would keep going. “So, there's humans, Wesen, and Grimms. That's what Nick is, he can see Wesen for what we are, but usually only when we lose our composure or are in touch with the Wesen side. It's some kind of Grimm-sense, but I really don't know that much about it. Nick's the only one I've ever met and the only one I've ever heard of playing this well with others; usually they tend towards kill, maim, or torture first and ask questions later when it comes to Wesen. That's the stories we've all heard about growing up. Like Marie Kellser-” 

“Wait, Aunt Marie was a Grimm?” 

“Um, yeah, that's how Nick became one actually. It's passed down in a family, so when one dies another takes it's place. See, he apparently wasn't raised as one and had no idea about any of this until she was dying, which, really just goes to show the nurture side to the whole ordeal. He's just, well, a cop. He just wants to keep the peace, which, let me tell you, not all of us have been entirely trusting or understanding of. See the above explanation.” He stopped, looking at her as though gauging her reaction or waiting for her to say something. So she said the first thing that came to mind. 

“So, does everyone speak German, then?” He looked confused for a moment, head tilting up and away before he burst out a laugh.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fairly short one to end the scene. More up sometime early next week though.

“No, um, it's just that the Brother's Grimm were the first big names to start profiling Wesen and recording their encounters. So there's a lot of records and stories, which really are skewed biases of the people involved, so they're originally written in German. I speak it because my family is from Germany, but Nick is struggling to pick up some here and there. I still end up translating most of the time though.” 

Juliette thought back to the times when she had tried to teach Nick even a little bit of Spanish. He had been truly horrible at it, and she had no doubt that he would have just as much or even more trouble with a Germanic language. This whole story, this fantasy, could be completely true, or complete shit for all she could tell.

There was really only one way that she was going to actually believe a word he had said, and she berated herself at not thinking of it sooner. 

“So you're not human? Prove it.” 

“Um, I don't think that that's such a good idea.” 

“Why not? You said most people can't see you because they can't handle it. I can.” 

“Remember that thing I said about breaking your brain, and subsequently Nick killing me?” Juliette just stared at him, knowing that he would either go through with it or wouldn't. She couldn't make him, but she knew which outcome would mean he would keep talking and which one wound up with the police being called. 

“Ok, ok, but just remember that it's still me,” he said and held up his hands “Ok, don't freak out. Here goes nothing.” He closed his eyes and shook his shoulders, letting out tension. 

Nothing was happening and she was starting to wonder just what she was supposed to be seeing when he started to change. One second there was a mild-mannered, sweater-vest wearing weirdo sitting in her living-room, and with a jerk of his head, a red-eyed, snarling monster right out of a bad science fiction movie was looking right at her. 

She whipped back. Even though she accepted that something might happen, she wasn't prepared for this. She had her hand reaching for her coffee mug to hit him in the face when he turned back to normal with his hands up, nonthreatening. She sat up straighter, looking at him warily as she breathed deeply and tried to calm down her racing heart. 

"See, still me,"

“So that’s what you really look like?” 

“Sort of, sometimes. That’s called Woging, it’s the change that shows my Wesen form. That’s what you saw.” 

“And there are others like you?” 

“Well, yeah, there’s other Blutbaden but there’s all kind of Wesen out there. A friend of mine, well Nick knows her too, is a Fuchsbau. There’s Eisbibers, Wildermanner, all kinds of Wesen just living their lives. Most are just like you, we have jobs, I mean I’m a clockmaker, but some of them do get caught up in their natures. It, uh, it can be complicated.” He looked down at his hands clasped on his knees. “Heck, why do people do anything? I did things a long time ago that I’m not proud of but I decided that wasn’t me. So I’m reformed. That’s why I’m vegan, get rid of all those temptations and I can stay on the right track.” He went quiet again, looking inwards. 

Juliette considered this information; what was he saying, that he’s killed people? Is that what Wesen did, or could do? She could easily imagine that creature that he had been tearing apart someone. So that’s what Grimms did, what Nick did, or does, hunt down people like that? 

“And Nick is, what, some kind of vigilante?”

“No! Well, kinda, I guess. Look, it kind of goes with the job. You can’t just go to the police and say ‘I know where the kidnapee is because the suspect is a Dämonfeuer.’ The police tend to want more evidence than that. That’s what Ariel Eberhart was, that woman who kidnapped you? Yeah, we weren’t exactly acting with police sanction there.”

“Wow, ok. So she wasn’t just insane and jealous?”

“Um, no. They can get really caught up on things like honor and make really bad decisions. Look, I know this is a lot to take in and all but trust me when I say that Nick wanted to tell you. He even asked me if I’d woge out for you so you’d know he wasn’t lying. It just never came up.” He looked at his watch and started fidgeting, obviously starting to think about leaving. Juliette decided that they had talked long enough and she knew enough to get her near enough, if not on the same page, to it that she could help.

“Monroe, thanks for telling me, I know this wasn't how you were expecting to spend your evening," she said and shared a commissary shrug. "Hey, can I get your phone number in case I have more questions? I have a feeling that Nick will be out for a long time.”

“Oh, yeah, sure. And hey, we’re going to get him better, ok? I’m going to go talk to my friend Rosalee and we’re going to figure out what it is. It might take us awhile because we don’t have a sample of the poison, but Nick’s going to be ok.” They exchanged information and stood up. Monroe picked up his mug and put it in the sink, suddenly awkward again as he waved goodbye. 

“Well, good talking with you finally. Um, so, bye.”

“Bye,” she said and shut the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up everyone: I'm starting to get ready for this year's NaNoWriMo, and I just signed up for pacificrim - a - thon on Tumblr, so after the next couple of chapters updates will slow down for awhile.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Introspection, soul searching, and a plan of action is made. Can you guess how he was poisoned?
> 
> This chapter is not beta'd yet, but I wanted to get it up; I'll revise it when I get the edited version back.

Juliette found herself standing in the entryway, just going over everything that had just happened. It was a lot to process. She went to the kitchen and started making more coffee, then stood leaning against the stove going back over everything.

So the world was a lot bigger than it was that morning, and she realized that she was actually ok with that. She wasn't panicking, in fact after the shock slipped away she found herself more angry than anything. This is what Nick had been keeping from her, this is what he'd been going through on his own.

No wonder he'd been stressed out the last few months.

She hadn’t known what he’d been going through, and she had been completely in the dark-didn't know how to help him. She’d only been able to hold on and try to be supportive while he withdrew more and more into this whole different world where he was a-a what a vigilante? A supernatural police officer? A Grimm apparently.

The coffee finished brewing and she got her mug from the table. Could she have helped had she'd known about all this? There was no way to know now but she was still bitter-achingly so. The feeling of betrayal was just too strong at the moment. She blew out a long breath and sat down at the table.

Ok, she needed to try to see this from Nick's perspective. He wanted to keep her safe, that's just a core aspect of who he is. It's what drove him to the force in the first place, that need to protect and he had felt that the best way to do this was to try and keep her separated from that world.

This had obviously not worked out entirely, considering her getting kidnapped. And how many other people in her daily life knew that she was Juliette-Nick the Grimm's girlfriend? She knew full well that being a cop's significant other was stressful and potentially dangerous, and the fact that he had made her life even more potentially dangerous without warning her about it, taking the choice away from her, and keeping her ignorant of the situation only made her more of a target.

Were there others? She reflected on the last year since Aunt Marie had appeared. She’d been attacked; had that been because she was a Grimm? There had been that repairman- Bud, he was terrified of Nick, had he been a Wesen? What about the recent situation with Thom Carson, the mysterious DNA. What was it that Nick had said then? That stories were just stories and that it had probably been a contaminated specimen or that they got the samples messed up. Maybe she shouldn't have let it drop, but it has seemed so insane at the time-and he had let her think that she was the one that was absurd, having wild ideas that maybe the world was bigger than we know. He'd just sat there and let her think that she was overreacting and emotional. She was overcome again with the bitter sense of betrayal of this all. And there is nothing to prepare you for this. You hear about people's affairs and gambling problems and all those things and you hear about how people handled those, what happened because of them but this-she was at a loss of words.

So, he hadn’t known how to bring the whole topic up-yes it sounded crazy, sounded fantastical and made up. She agreed that she could not say how she would have reacted in the past had he brought it up. She both understood why he had done it and was deeply hurt over it all as well. They could and would discuss the matter and his choices when he was better. But right now Nick was hurt, had been poisoned. Nick needed support-needed help from everywhere he could get it. And Juliette was damned if she was going to let this stand.

She pulled out her phone and dialed Monroe.

“Hey, Juliette, that was quick. Is everything ok?”

“Yeah, sorry to call so soon but you said you thought you knew what it was but could you know for sure if you had a sample of it?”

“Well no, I mean I couldn’t but Rosalee probably could. I was heading to her shop right now actually. Why, do you have some? Because that stuff is, like, seriously potent and even a little contact could be dangerous.”

“No, it’s ok. I don’t have any, but I’m pretty sure I know where some is. Where are you going? I can bring it over.”

“Oh, yeah, ok. But only if you’re really careful. Like wear gloves and don’t even rub your eyes-”

“Monroe, I work around plenty of substances on a daily basis that are foul. I’ve got this.

She wrote down the name and address. Exotic Spice & Tea Shop. She wondered if that’s where he’d gotten his wonder tea? What was a tea shop owner doing with drug identification equipment anyway? Besides the general insanity of the entire situation it was all getting shiftier and shiftier.

Juliette was pretty sure she knew where the source of exposure was. If this had started while Nick was at the precinct, which was a good guess considering it was where he spent the most consistent time outside of the home and his car, and if it was exposure through ingestion and no one else was showing symptoms, then she had a good idea what it was. The one thing that Nick was guaranteed to actually have, even if he forgot about meals, was his coffee. And she knew that unless they were desperate, Nick and Hank went to the coffee shop by the precinct.

Before leaving she wrote a note in case Nick woke up. She had a feeling that he wouldn’t be awake for at least a few more hours, if not for a solid sixteen considering how long he had been awake, but she didn’t want him to wake up worried.

She exchanged a smile and a wave with Jake, looking bored and tired in his patrol car, as she left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, after some research into the matter, the officer stationed outside their house wasn't listed with a name. So I named him Jake, because I think Juliette would know this detail.
> 
> Finally finishing watching season 2 because my mom wants me caught up for tomorrow; I'm on the second to last episode. Gotta say, still upset with the direction they took with Juliette, and I keep waiting for her to confront Nick instead of going to Monroe, but ehh, what can you do? Write fic...


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, so it's been awhile. I hope this chapter satisfies everyone who's still sticking around. Thank you everyone who has left kudos and comments, they keep me going! This is officially the most hits I've ever got on something I've written.
> 
> This chapter and possibly all future ones are un betad, as she went and got a job on top of being in full time advanced placement schooling. I'm so proud of my sister ♥.
> 
> Hoping to get back onto a twice a month posting schedule, but NaNoWriMo went and threw me off this horse. It might take me a little longer to get back into writing this story.

 It wasn’t too late in the day yet, but it was already getting dark by the time she got to the station. A few officers nodded at her as she came up; she wasn’t well known but most people knew her face at least. She was dating an officer, and she had visited him at work before. 

Which was why she knew where his desk was. Hank wasn’t there. Not surprising since he had a new case. But no one else she knew by name was there either. In fact the place was kind of empty. The few officers she had seen had seemed agitated and not up for conversation. Not making polite conversation about how Nick was doing was fine with her.

She was able to go straight to his desk, and there was, in fact, a half-drunk to-go cup on his desk which she picked it up carefully with several napkins between her hand and it.

No one bothered her on her way out either. When she got into her car she put the cup in the holder, which she had lined with a bag, and then, just to be safe, she put a bag over the top of the whole thing. The napkins were just put into another bag down on the floor. She was glad at that moment that she saved grocery bags. She wished she could wash her hands but there wasn’t anything for that until she got to the shop.        

Parking was thankfully no problem, there was a spot right outside the shop. Which was good because she had never been to this neighborhood before and was really hoping she wouldn’t have to circle. She knocked on the door which had a sign in the window saying they were closed. 

Monroe ducked out from behind a corner inside and hurried over to open the door.        

“Hey, did you find the place ok?” He asked, relocking the door behind her.       

 “Yeah, no problem,” Juliette said, looking at a shelf full of glass bottles and jars full of not-tea. The shop was dimly lit, letting the sunlight from the windows illuminate the oddities inside. Bundles of herbs hung, to dry or to show, she didn’t know, beside shelves of more strange bottles. 

A woman stood off to the side, showing quiet concern in her tense stance and kind smile.       

 “Oh, is that it?” Monroe asked, pointing at the bag-covered cup. She hummed in confirmation and held it up.        

“I’m pretty sure, this is the one habit that he has, and just think about it, if someone was poisoning his coffee, then the more tired he got the more he’d drink to stay awake.”       

 “Yeesh, that is messed up,” Monroe said, cringing. He seemed to notice the woman, Rosalee presumably, and hurriedly added, “oh! Rosalee, this is Juliette, and- Rosalee,” he said, pointing between them.       

 “Nice to meet you. You have,” Juliette paused and scanned the room again, “quite a collection.” 

Rosalee smiled, “that is is. It’s good to finally meet you, I only wish it was under better circumstances,” she lead them into another room with a nod of her head. 

They came into a side room, possibly a waiting area. There wasn’t rows of items so it didn't seem to be an open room to customers. A table sat in the middle of the room with what looked like an antique or cobbled together chemistry set. Some vials of colored liquid were off to one side, like in a television show’s lab where it was undoubtedly cool-aid or something just as useless. 

With that thought Juliette was suddenly a lot less trusting of this situation.        

“Can you help him?” She asked, trying for a neutral tone and surely sounding skeptical. Rosalee came around the table to the vials and raised an eyebrow, obviously catching the tone.        

“I’m almost certain. Now how long ago was he poisoned?”      

“Well, symptoms appeared approximately four days ago with severe insomnia.” Rosalee nodded along and carefully set the wrapped cup onto a plate, unwrapped it, and set several instruments up alongside it. “That was first triggered, it seemed, by a nightmare and stress.”      

  “Oh, man, this has been going on for days? He seemed stressed out but I had no idea it was that bad,” Monroe muttered and looked at his feet.       

 “Yeah, I didn’t either,” Juliette said. An uncomfortable silence descended as Rosalee finished setting everything up.       

 “Ok, so, if this turns yellow it means everything is fine and Nick will just wake up on his own. Green means it is poison, but I have the antidote on hand,” she said as she swabbed the cup and dropped the ball into a mixture. Several seconds went by where they watched the ball saturate and sink but no color change occurred. Then the water bloomed blue.      

  “Hey, what about blue?” Monroe asked and pointed at the beaker.        

“Well, um, that means good news and bad news,” Rosalee said slowly. “The good news is that it’s not too late to cure Nick, as long as it’s only progressed as long as we think, the bad news is that it’s going to be a close call, especially if he’s crashed already,” she continued and pulled a large tome off of a shelf and started flipping through the pages. “And if we can’t wake him up then he never will. This should work,” she tapped a page that looked like it wasn’t written in English and was possibly written with a quill. “but it’s going to take a long time to make and administer,” she said and scanned the page. “The first dose takes only about half an hour to mix and refine, but there are two more doses after that which have to be administered with precise timing and refining. If these aren’t made perfectly, or administered at correct times then the entire antidote won’t work. And we only have one shot at this.” She looked up from the book and held Juliette’s eyes for the last sentence, urging the gravity of the situation and sharing sympathy.     

   Juliette absorbed all of the implications of what she was saying and pushed away at the panic that was creeping over her.      

  “Ok,” she took a deep breath, “what can I do to help?” 

Rosalee bit her bottom lip and looked over the page again.  “I have everything I need, and Monroe can help. Why don’t you go home and keep an eye on Nick in case his condition changes?” 

Juliette opened her mouth to push the issue when Monroe interjected, “When was the last time you ate?” Juliette pursed her lips and tried to come up with a response, and realized that she couldn’t pinpoint the answer.   “If you were going to say the coffee we had then, yeah, that doesn’t count,” he snorted and crossed his arms. 

He reminded her of Hank then, with the pushy concern, and she huffed out a laugh. “Ok, you win. I’ll go home and let you know if anything changes. And eat something,” she added when he raised an eyebrow and began to say something.      

  “We’ll come over as soon as we have this finished,” Rosalee said.

"Can I wash my hands before I leave?" Juliette asked, looking around the room for a hand washing station.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, I think I lost track of how many days has passed. It's four or five though.


	10. Chapter 10

The house was dark and dormant on a street awash with porch lights. It invited larceny, if not for the police car perched outside. This fact though, did not deter the man currently breaking into the house. 

The officer had gone down quickly and quietly, unaware of the assailant while doing rounds.

The neighborhood slept on, oblivious to the danger slipping past their neighbor’s defenses. 

A partially lit interior, someone’s effort to keep a sense of quiet comfort, the man surveyed the room before him, methodically moving through the space before doing the same for the rest of the rooms on the ground floor. No resistance met him, but he did not move any less guardedly as he ascended the stairs and finished sweeping the house. Though he was restless to begin looking for the artifact that brought him here, he forced himself to calmly clear the house.

A door was partially open. The hallway light was on, casting through the crack, and would expose him if he was not careful. He slowed his approach and edged enough around the frame to see within. A small light, providing enough illumination to see the contents within.

There, on the bed, apparently asleep was the Grimm, tucked under the covers and snoring lightly. The man froze in the doorway, sure of a trap. But as he directed his senses he could not detect anyone else or anything of danger. Surely he couldn’t have found such luck, not after hearing so many blood-filled stories of this Nick Burkhardt. But there he lay, exposed and vulnerable. 

The man stepped further into the room, forming a plan of attack and subdual. There was plenty in the room that could be used for both purposes. 

The air pressure changed as another person’s breath and presence displaced the area. The man turned swiftly, blocking the blow aimed at his neck. 

A dead woman stood before him.

The blows came faster as they began fighting in earnest.

Nick slept on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for nothing. Still writing, but slowly. Next chapter is longer but there will be another wait. ♥ to everyone!


	11. Chapter 11

The night was getting on with age, the wind had died down and the air was crisp. Ever since Monroe had mentioned eating, Juliette had started feeling nausea settle in her stomach, ptyalism beginning to set in as she became aware of how hungry she actually was. She had idly considered stopping for fast food, but the thought of greasy food made her stomach roll. No, she’d wait till she got home. The roads were mostly deserted, the dinner crowd having gone home and the bar crowd not yet emerged. It made for a quick trip home, if only Portland roads were always this accommodating.

Juliette rolled to a stop in her driveway, the nausea rose as a feeling of dread came over her; she hadn’t seen Brian in his car out front. But it might simply mean that he was out of his vehicle doing rounds of the house. She turned off the car and swallowed; Monroe had been right about having gone so long without anything to eat, it really didn’t add anything helpful to all the recent stress. Juliette took a deep breath to calm herself, and saw that the front door was ajar.

She shoved open the car door and dashed up to the house. Brian was down on the porch, she kneeled down and checked his vitals, dividing her attention between him and the front door. Now that she was closer she could hear a commotion inside. She left him after determining that he was unconscious but stable, and rushed to the door, trying to stay quiet and unseen.

She knew that Nick kept a pistol in a lockbox in a cupboard off the entryway. She didn’t know the combination, but she suspected and hoped that he used the same combination as his phone, as well as several other things; Nick could remember pages of information regarding a case but he was hopeless with remembering pins.

The fight seemed to be nearing, growing much louder as Juliette came inside. Two people, a man and a woman stumbled, locked in combat, through the remains of Juliette’s living room. She paused only long enough to determine that they hadn’t noticed her entry, then dove behind the divider and pulled the lockbox out of its cupboard. The code did work, she was briefly glad and exasperated with Nick and his singular security. She took out the pistol and clip, snapping them together, taking off the safety, and drawing back the slide. She spun around, assuming a firing stance with the two trespassers lined up. While Juliette was prepared to fire if needed, she really only wanted to have to is it was absolutely the last resort.

The two were grappled, it seemed that the man had the woman in a hold.

“Freeze! Put your hands up and get on the ground!” Juliette barked out, drawing on Nick’s stories and television. The man jerked in surprise and turned slightly to see her out of the corner of his eye.

It was one of the men involved with Nick’s parent’s deaths. Here in their house.

The woman broke free and counterattacked. Before Juliette could say anything else, the man was on the ground, unmoving. The woman turned to Juliette and held her hands up at chest level.

“I said get on the ground!” Juliette said again, trying desperately to think of the man’s name and if this woman had been involved.

“Yes, you did,” the woman said mildly, only slightly out of breath. “Thank you for that, I forgot how tough these are.” She looked Juliette over, looking calm considering the gun pointed at her.

“Who the hell are you?” Juliette demanded, completely confused. Did they have anything to do with poisoning Nick? The woman looked agonizingly familiar but Juliette couldn’t pinpoint her.

“Hm, no, who are you? You’re in Nick’s home and obviously know your way around,” she turned her head, looking over a set of framed pictures that were on display, and looked back, smiling. “Please tell me, fiance?”

Juliette almost corrected her, but glared instead. “Last chance, who are you and why the hell are you in my home?” She needed to figure out how to end this soon; there hadn’t been any sign of Nick, so he was either upstairs still under the effects of the poison, or there was another reason he had remained silent and hadn’t made an appearance.

The woman met Juliette’s eyes, momentarily biting her lip before dropping her arms and relaxing her stance. “I’m Nick’s mother, Kelly.”

Bullshit. “Nick’s mother’s dead.” She knew this, had read the police report when researching the case for Nick. But damn, this woman looked like an older Kelly Burkhardt, like the woman in Nick’s albums, only older and more world-weary. Juliette met Kelly’s eyes, and knew this woman wasn’t lying. Nick’s mother looked back at her with sadness lurking behind her eyes. But it didn’t explain any of this, Juliette kept the gun up. “Prove it.”

Kelly smiled wryly, tilted her head, and said, “You know, he still sleeps the same way he used to. Probably easier though; he had so much trouble when he was young. There was this music box I had; it was my great-great-grandmother’s, hand carved, and I used to be so worried that he’d break it. But Nicky was so careful with it. I made sure that Marie knew how it helped him before I left, wanted to leave him something familiar.” She grew more wistful as she spoke. At some point, Juliette lowered the gun, tears threatening, as the gravity of the situation set it.

“He still has it. He keeps it in a box for safe-keeping” she said, voice hoarse. Kelly smiled sadly.

“He better, that’s a family heirloom.”

“But why did you fake your own death? Were they in on it?” Juliette asked, setting the gun down on the room divider.

“That, is a very long story, and better told another day,” Kelly said. She crouched down to look over the man, then ripped open his jacket and shirt, before turning him over and pulling them down to reveal  
tattoos across his back in an Asian language.

“And who the hell is that? He was one of your murderers,” Juliette said, pointing at his tattooed back.

“Trouble,” is all Kelly responded with before sirens interrupted. “Here,” Kelly held out her hand, indicating the gun. Juliette paused momentarily before handing it over and turning towards the door, the police lights now visible. When she looked back, Kelly was gone.

“Crap,” Juliette muttered, then dashed to the door as officers began bursting in and dispersing throughout the house.

“Are you ok?” Captain Renard asked, stopping and placing a hand on her shoulder for comfort. Considering the day she’d been having, it really didn’t.

“Yes,” she said, stepping away.

“It’s Kimura, he’s alive,” Wu said, crouched and taking the unconscious man’s pulse. The captain was staring at the man,

“Should we turn him?” An officer she didn’t recognize said. Wu nodded, and they turned him.

“What happened?” the Captain asked finally.

“He was tearing the house apart,” Juliette swallowed and gasped out, “I caught him by surprise and knocked him out.” She really hoped she wasn’t overdoing it, pulling from her experience of theater class in high-school.

“Well, good job,” Wu said, looking back at her with regard.

“Cuff him, I don’t want him hurting anyone else,” the Captain said to the officers, then turned back to Juliette, “Was Kimura alone?

“Yes,” she said, and ran her hands over her face.

“Where’s Nick? How’s he doing?”

“He was upstairs,” Juliette said, and paused when it hit her that she didn’t know his condition, “asleep when I left,” she rushed out and then ran upstairs, dodging an officer coming down. She almost stumbled over to Nick’s sleeping form and checked his vitals, sighing deeply when she knew he was stable.

“He must have been really out of it, to not have woken up with all the noise,” the Captain noted from the doorway, voice hushed so as not to wake him up, “Is he ok?”

“This is the first sleep he’s had in days, he must have been completely exhausted,” she said with her head bowed.

“Look, Juliette, we’re going to take Kimura away, and station two officers outside. If you find anything missing,” he paused, and shook his head slightly, “or don’t feel safe, there are people that you two can stay with.”

“No, it’s ok. Nick’s going to be asleep for a while, and there’s so much to clean up. I’m going to have to call some friends to help I think” she smiled wryly.

“If you’re sure. Do you know what they will be driving? So I can notify the officers outside.”

“Um, a Bug. I don’t remember what color it is.”

“Ok, we can wait on a report until Nick is up and around. We’ll be out of your hair in a few minutes” he shifted his weight, hands on his hips before lifting a hand in a wave and leaving.

  
Juliette let out a long breath. Damn, she had the worst headache.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, 1,000 hits! I don't even know what to say. Have a chapter!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still un-betad currently, and there are a couple of moments in here that I'm not sure of, but hopefully you can parse them fine.

Juliette checked on Nick one last time, making sure he was covered enough and maintaining a steady temperature, before turning the light off and going back downstairs. Their things were knocked about, mostly unbroken but some curios and vases didn’t look like they had survived the fight. Kelly was still gone, only the mess was left. 

“Great.” There really was a lot to clean up. She stood in the living room, hands on her hips and turned in place, surveying the damage. Kelly was standing in the kitchen.

“Jesus! Shit,” Juliette yelled, jerking back when she saw her. “Where did you go? No, nevermind.” She said, her voice caught in the surprised loss of breath as she watched Kelly walk into the room and survey it herself. It started to reach into an uncomfortable silence.

“So, you just let Nick think you were dead all these years?” Juliette threw out there when it began to affect her. Not her best work there, she realized too late.

Kelly turned to her with solemn regard. “It was the only way that I could think of to protect him. I have a lot of enemies, Juliette,” she finished and turned back to the room. “And I can’t stay here, not with Kimura in town. I need to speak to him.”

“Why? That’s going to be hard with him arrested. Oh, is Nick’s father alive too?” Juliette asked hopefully, taking a half step forwards.

“No, he was killed in the crash,” Kelly paused and drew in a long breath, “him and a friend of mine,” she wouldn’t meet Juliette’s eyes, looking around the room as though in thought. Juliette slumped against the doorway to the kitchen, covering her mouth and trying to organize her own thoughts.

“Did, did Aunt Marie know?” She asked after a shared silence.

“Yes, she did,” Kelly said under her breath.

A loud knocking on the front door drew both of their attentions. Juliette moved past Kelly, sharing a concerned glance before going to check the door. Monroe was standing on the other side, meeting her eyes with agitation. They really needed to put a curtain up there. He and Rosalee came into the house as soon as the door opened.

“Hey, we tried calling, but,” he trailed into silence as he saw the mess of the living room. “Dude, what the hell happened here?” He asked in a stunned voice.

“There was, um, a bit of an incident,” Juliette said, trailing off herself as she realized she didn’t know how much she should tell them.

“Are you ok?” Rosalee asked, and looked her over for obvious signs of injury. Juliette nodded, thankful that they had come when they said the would.

Monroe sniffed the air, his mouth slightly open and his tongue showing. “They’re still here.” Rosalee scented the air and turned towards the kitchen. There was a brush of air behind Juliette. She turned as Kelly ran past her, jumped onto Monroe and drove him onto the ground.

\-------

“So, this,” Juliette paused, the word she was trying to say actually somewhat painful to think about, “potion will bring him out of this?” She asked Rosalee as they watched Nick still asleep and unresponsive in their bed. Kelly was kneeling at the head of the bed stroking his hair back from his forehead. Monroe stayed at the doorway, either staying as far away from Kelly as he could while still being included or keeping watch. 

Both were good ideas after what had happened downstairs.

“And if it harms Nick in any way,” Kelly said, as she looked up from his still form, “I will end you.”

“Like to see you try,” Monroe muttered from his currently safe distance. Kelly jerked her head to stare, unwavering, at him. 

“Not helping,” Juliette said tersely, sensing another clash iminent.

“There’s no way to tell if he will have an adverse reaction to the antidote, but from I can tell he has had none to similar chemicals, and I swear to you that neither of us wish him harm,” Rosalee said. She held out the glass phial to Kelly to inspect.

Kelly held the mildly orange fluid up to the light, then unstopped it and sniffed it. When it didn’t match up with whatever she was concerned it might be she held it out to Juliette.

“Here, you should be the one to do it.” 

“But, you're his mom,” Juliette said, with her arm still outstretched.

“He doesn’t know me,” Kelly said and looked back down at him. “He’ll be confused and agitated, his friends,” she bit out, “should be what he sees first,” she finished and stood up, retreating to the dresser with arms folded.

“Trickle it into his mouth slowly, with his head slightly elevated,” Rosalee said.

“Yes, I know how to administer fluids to unresponsive patients,” Juliette replied, not unkindly, but automatic. She sat down on the side of the bed and lifted Nick onto her arm.

“Well, it should start working immediately and his swallow response should kick in quickly.”

“That’s convenient,” Juliette muttered, and began dripping the potion into his mouth. “Should have brought an oral syringe,” she added as the fluid sloshed slightly.

“Next time he can take it himself,” Monroe said from closer than Juliette remembered.

Several moments passed and Juliette halted the trickle of fluid in fear of aspiration. Everyone held their breaths.

Nick’s eyelids twitched and he swallowed thickly. 

“There you go,” Juliette said in a rush, and resumed the trickle. Before long he had swallowed the entire phial. Rosalee stepped forwards and took it from Juliette’s hand. As soon as it was empty, she was holding Nick’s cheek as his face began scrunching up in a possibly worried expression.

“Wha-,” he grunted, and started coughing right into Juliette’s face. She laughed and held him closer, turning his face towards her shoulder without smothering him. 

The collective breath in the room was broken as everyone sighed in relief. 

“Water,” Nick croaked out.

“Oh, man, you must have the worst cotton mouth ever,” Monroe said and rushed into the adjoining bathroom.

“No,” Nick lifted his head and the tears that Juliette was dropping onto him rolled off of his cheek, “why are you crying?” He asked haltingly, talking around what really must be horrible cotton mouth.

Juliette hiccupped and started laughing as she pulled him into a hug. After a moment she laid him back down onto the bed as Monroe came up beside her with a glass of water. Nick looked groggily between them, then over to Rosalee on the other side of the bed, hands clasped in front of her as she also shed tears.

“Why is everyone in our room?” He asked slowly, confused but coming more awake. “And who’s that?” He looked at Kelly with confusion scrunching up his face again.

“Dude, not touching that,” Monroe muttered and took a step away.

“Nicky, it’s me,” Kelly said quietly and came over to the bed, hand halfway outstretched. 

“Mom?” Nick whispered, his mouth hanging open slightly. “How?” They looked at each other, not saying anything, just processing the moment.

“Ok, sorry, not to break up this touching moment,” Monroe said and held the water out, “but your breath is awful, dude.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Nick's not dead (like that was a surprise?), but he's not out of the fire yet, remember that there are two more doses left, and this "episode" isn't even half over yet.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not being beta'd, but it has been reread five+ times now. So here's hoping it's ok.

“And then I almost shot your mom,” Juliette said, and ducked her head down to sip from her mug of tea.

“Your fire discipline was superb,” Kelly said and turned her head to Nick. “Did you teach her?”

Nick blinked slowly and shook his head, still somewhat hazy. He had been too weak and unstable on his feet when he had recovered enough to climb out of bed. Juliette had needed to help him in getting cleaned up and changed while everyone else had come downstairs in a continuing truce. Thankfully, no one appeared injured, and someone had boiled water for tea. Juliette didn’t think she had drunk this much in the last couple days as she had in a week, she hoped that they weren’t going to run out soon

“No, I already knew all that,” Juliette said and waved her hand to encompass it all, “I grew up around Sherwood, everyone on the farm knew how to shoot, and stuff,”

“You grew up on a farm?” Monroe asked incredulously, “Huh, still, I know loads of people who don’t know even when to leave the safety on.”

“So what now?” Nick asked, his voice scratchy.

“I have to get in to speak with Akira,” Kelly said, looking sidelong at Rosalee and Monroe.

“But he's in police custody,” Rosalee said.

“Yeah," Monroe huffed, "and I don't think Nick is up to making any appearances yet,” he added.

“I'm fine, I just need to get my energy back,” Nick croaked out. Juliette handed him her tea, as he hadn't wanted his own.

 

“Well, that might take some time,” Rosalee said gently, and handled her own mug.

“How long?” Nick asked, his words stronger this time.

“No way to tell, this is a messed up potion we're talking about here. And this isn't exactly an exact science if you get me,” Monroe said, and smiled apologetically at Rosalee as soon as he had said it.

“Your recovery is coming along great, Nick, and you should be back on your feet in just a couple more hours or so. But there are still two dosages left," Rosalee said.

"Ok, when does that need to happen?" Nick asked, his voice still scratchy, but stronger.

"Tomorrow around Three pm. There's a little margin to work with, but we can't be sure how much. We need to go get the next dose finished. I started it before coming over, but we really need to get back to the shop,” Rosalee and Monroe shared a look. "We'll let ourselves out." Rosalee and Monroe both stood up. "Remember, tomorrow at three; we'll be here."

"Glad you're, you know, better. Not completely, obviously, but," Monroe trailed off. "Nice meeting you," he said to Kelly, who smiled back with teeth.

"I still can't believe you're friends with them. A Blutbad!" Kelly said, near spitting, as the door clicked shut.

"And I can't believe you showed your face after years of just letting me think you were dead!" Nick shouted back, his voice cracking halfway through. With the others gone the weight of everything must have hit him at once. He had been incredulous and hurt when they had first told him while he was propped up in bed, but he hadn’t fought the revelation too much. Now it seemed as though he had been in shock and hadn’t processed it. His eyes shone with hurt and anger at his long-lost mother across the table.

Kelly sagged in her seat and looked to the side. "You have to believe me, Nicky, I hated it. But I had to keep you safe." Kelly was starting to look frayed. From having to go over this multiple times, or the entire emotional confrontation; it was anyones guess.

"I'm going to go call Hank," Nick said abruptly and stood slowly, but resolutely from the table. He left the room and went out back.

Kelly let out a long breath and hung her head, looking down at her clasped hands. "I'm a terrible mother."

"What?" Juliette blurted out, "No, you did leave your child. But you did it to protect him. And you had to find the people that killed his father to keep him safe, right? Could you have taken him with you? Could you have done the things you needed to with him by your side?"

"I wanted to. I almost did, but I never wanted this life for him. I never wanted him to even know about any of it. We had hoped, me and Marie, that it wouldn't affect him with two Grimms in the family. There's usually only one at a time, but who even knows how this all works?" She sighed and sat back in the chair. "We know so much, but nothing important, useful, it seems." She ran a hand over her face and met Juliette's eyes. "I need to talk to Nick." She stood up from the table, hands holding the back of the chair she smiled and looked down at Juliette. "I'm glad you know, glad he has you," she said, and followed Nick out onto the back porch.

 

Kelly had wandered off somewhere after her talk with Nick. Which was a mixed blessing, because Juliette and him needed time to recover and process the last 24 hours or so, but it was nearing midnight and were both suddenly exhausted now that there wasn’t anything happening. They needed to talk about so much, but had no energy to do so.

They had found each other after Nick and his mother’s talk, Juliette sitting at her desk and vaguely reading through her emails with Nick leaning against the back of a dining room chair. They hadn’t said much, more so sharing looks and a silence that wasn’t as uncomfortable as it probably should have been. 

“So,” Nick started and let hang, he looked like he was going to apologize again.

“Hey,” Juliette cut in, turning in her chair and looking at him straight on, “you’re a vigilante that hunts fairy tales, and so is your not actually dead mother. I almost shot a guy today and I lied to the Captain of the police. We should go to bed.” 

Nick’s shoulders collapsed and he looked like he might actually follow suit. “You know I love you, right?” He said and smiled at her.

“Eh,” Juliette shrugged and failed to keep a straight face. She grinned at Nick’s overtly hurt face. “Go on to bed. I’ll get the guest room ready.”

Nick’s face fell and he looked at the ground. “What if I don’t wake up?” he asked, voice barely above a whisper, as he bared a fear that she had only one answer for.

“Then we’ll fix it. I’m not giving up on you. Not like this. Not over this.” She looked him in the eyes and promised silently that she would do it. She would jump head first into whatever brand of crazy world that he was waist deep in. She would pull the trigger if she had to. She would learn and she would fight if it kept them safe. “Get to bed before you pass out.”

“No,” he said as petulantly as he could and grinned again. He leaned on her as he walked by, laying his head on hers and whispering “Love you.”

 

Kelly still hadn’t appeared by the time that Juliette had shoved the stuff that they were storing in the guest room to one wall and made the bed. She left the door open as a hint before going to their own room. Nick was already under the covers, eyes half closed and watching her get ready for bed. She wondered if he would wake up the next morning. Or would he slip silently back into an unconsciousness that would keep a hold of him; Rosalee’s tonics no match for whatever kind of poison he’d been assaulted with. She eventually made herself stop running through it, too tired to keep going over something she couldn’t change at the moment.

 

 

Nick did wake up the next morning, just like any morning. What wasn't normal was Kelly in the kitchen, cooking pancakes and trying to set fire to the toaster.

"I got it," Nick said, and rushed to pop out the smoking toast. Juliette stopped in the doorway, unsure if she would be intruding on a moment.

"Thanks," Kelly said, turning partially away from the stove and looked at him. “I was just trying to make you a little something," she continued, somewhat haltingly and distracted. "Sorry," she muttered after a moment.

Nicks phone rang, and he wiped his crumb covered fingers on his pants before pulling it out.

"For what?" He asked, looking between her and the screen.

"That's a long list," Kelly muttered, and turned back to the stove. Juliette decided she was definitely not intruding, especially after seeing the mess Kelly had made of the already wrecked kitchen.

"Alright, on my way," Nick said into the phone and hung up. "There's an investigation, I've got to run," Nick said. He paused a moment, thinking on his next words, and turned to Kelly. "You be here when I get back?"

"Yes, go on," she said and smiled quickly. He nodded slightly and started walking out of the kitchen.

"Are you ok to go?" Juliette asked as he passed her.

"Yeah, I talked to Hank last night. Said I had a bad flu, but that my beautiful girlfriend took care of me and my fever's gone," he told her, a cheeky smile on his face as he leaned in to kiss her.

"Yeah, yeah, go play with Hank. We'll do all the hard work around here. But be careful," Juliette told him, following him through the living room. "And remember, you have to back here by three for the next dose," she told him at the door as he put on his jacket..

"I will," he said, and they shared a goodbye kiss.

Juliette stood in the entryway, wondering what she was going to do next. She still had the day off, and there was so much to do around the house now, she was glad to have the time to take care of it.

"Juliette, do you want any pancakes? I made a lot of them," Kelly asked, looking embarrassed in the kitchen doorway. Juliette laughed a little and nodded.

"I would love some pancakes. Any excuse to not deal with this yet."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG that took forever to write. I'm sneaking in a couple hundred words a day on sheets of paper while at work and retyping them out. I've got the next chapter outlined and am doing Camp NaNo this month to write on this. SOOOO next one won't be another month (+) in the making (jinxing myself not-withstanding).


	14. Chapter 14

Juliette and Kelly spent several hours cleaning up the wreckage of the house, interspersed with breaks for tea and treats while exchanging stories between their experiences with Nick. Kelly found several broken pictures, frames empty of glass and the glossy pages scratched but whole. Juliette explained how they had met, that night and the other various moments they had captured throughout their house. Kelly asked about who was taking the pictures they had, as most of them were of the two of them. Juliette told her about their mutual friends, and how all of their respective friends had all but pushed each other towards one another. It was surprisingly easy to talk to Kelly, the graceful fighter had disappeared to become a mom with a broom.

Juliette was taking the vacuum canister out to the trash, arm extended as far as she could to keep as much dust from her face, when her phone notified her that Nick had written. She banged the rest of the dust out, flipped the trash lid down and jumped back out of the way of the cloud that was spreading. Kelly was putting rugs back in their places when Juliette came back in. Juliette put the canister back and went into the kitchen to wash her hands.

“You want to take a break?” She asked, drying her hands in the kitchen doorway. “We have a few things to drink.”

“That sounds great,” Kelly said, and nudged a rug with her foot. Juliette dropped the hand towel onto the counter and checked her phone.

“Nick’s going to come by on his lunch break soon.”

“Must be nice to work where you can do that,” Kelly said impassively as she looked at the cookbooks displayed.

"We both work where you can get called in at all hours, but still have perks like hour lunches," Juliette said while pulling out glasses. "I work three days a week, twelve hour days, and am the emergency on call for several farmers two days a week, so I have a lot of free time." She opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of kombucha. "Want some?"

"What is it?" Kelly asked, and turned away from the books.

"It's kombucha-"

"Yes, I have had it before,” Kelly cut her off gently, “what kind is it?"

"Cayenne."

"No, thank you, water is fine for me."

"There's other stuff too."

"This is fine, but if you have supplies for sandwiches I wouldn't say no to helping."

Juliette took a drink from the bottle and opened the fridge back up. They went ahead and made lunch, and ate while comparing stories about Nick

"He wouldn't tell us why he wouldn't sleep in his own bed, but we didn't want to encourage him sleeping with us. It took us over a week to realize that he was afraid of his dinosaur pillow and blanket. He thought that they would bite him in his sleep and he had the bites to prove it. They were mosquito bites,"

"Oh, my god. That is the cutest damn thing I have ever heard."

Kelly looked towards the living room, the door closed a second later.

"Juliette? Mom?" Nick called out from the entryway. 

"We're in the kitchen!" Juliette called back, then started chuckling when she realized that she had never known him to watch a movie about dinosaurs.

He ducked into the kitchen and looked between the two of them laughing.

"Should I be worried?"

"Oh, yes. We've been telling stories," Kelly said, smiling over the rim of her glass.

"Definitely worried now," he said and he squinted between them before going to the coffee pot.

"I've been thinking," he started, his hand stilled as it reached for the carafe. He turned around to them and crossed his arms, "There's somewhere I need to take you."

 

o-└ -└-o

 

They drove through the storage lot until they pulled up to something that she had completely forgotten about.

“Aunt Marie’s trailer?” Juliette asked, remembering the strange contents of the trailer when it was parked at their house. “Wait, she was a Grimm!” She exclaimed, and felt immediately foolish for saying it out loud. She knew that...

“I never thought I’d see this again,” Kelly said, staring at the trailer with restrained joy as she stepped out of the vehicle.

"You know about this?"

"Marie and I bought this trailer when our dad got sick, we needed a place to hide everything that had been passed down to us. We had 17 trunks hidden down in the basement of our house."

"Who else in our family had this," he paused and lifted his hands, before letting them fall against his sides, "problem?"

She turned back to him. "That I know of, your grandfather, your great grandmother, and aunt Marie."

"And uncle George had it too?" He smiled at the end of the question. Considering some of the stories he'd told her, Juliette could see how he could have been a Grimm.

"No, not everyone does. In fact, nobody knows when it's going to hit them or even if they've got it. Women become aware sooner than men, but the only thing we know for sure it's inherited.”

Nick looked at her another second before unlocking the trailer. They stepped in and looked around, in amazement for her, everything took on a new dimension of fascinating and creepy in the new light of discovery. Nick turned on a lamp, which confused her because she hadn't seen a generator or anything . There was so much to look at. She bent down to examine some small figurines near the lamps. They looked like they were carved in bone, but she really didn't want to know what kind .

Kelly walked through the trailer, taking everything in and trailing her hand over items. "A lot of people would like to get their hands on this stuff.”

"What did you think when you first found out about all of this?" Nick asked.

"I was only ten years old," Kelly said, looking at him over her shoulder. "Your grandfather didn't even try to protect me. So as soon as the nightmares started he wanted me to know exactly what I was going to be up against. I was so scared, I didn't sleep for months."

Juliette turned away from the carvings and towards Kelly. As she spoke the story turned more horrible and depressing.

“When I turned 18 he took Marie and me on hunts. The first couple were horrifying, but we quickly realized we were doing what had to be done," she said, and leaned her hands on the desk where a large, old book lay open. "We spent hours pouring over these books." She went and opened the cupboard and chuckled. "A lot of history here.” She pulled out an ornate curved weapon. "your great-great-grandmother Hilda," with a she pulled out a curved knife from it, "with this blade, castrated a Rotznasig Carcaju," she said.

"That's good times," Nick said.

"That's disgusting," Juliette chimed in.

"You know this is all very important to us," Kelly said and put the blade away.

Juliette ducked her head into the closet. "Is that a mace?" 

"It's a flail," Kelly responded without turning around.

Nick looked between the two of them and nodded. He inched around Juliette and bent down at the cupboard, pulling forward the chest at the bottom and reaching in behind it. He came back out with a small black chest. Nick stood back up and opened the chest, showing Kelly what was inside. Juliette leaned over to see, inside were three large gold coins that looked old but clean, laid into black velvet. Kelly seemed very happy to see them.

"Now what?" He asked.

"Return them to the Island of Zakynthos where they were forged. That's the only way to destroy them," Kelly answered.

Juliette raised an eyebrow at Kelly’s answer. That made absolutely no sense and was very reminiscent of Lord of the Rings. They were some kind of metal, probably gold, and were most certainly meltable. It seemed ridiculous that that was the only answer. Maybe it wasn't.

"So, I guess you'll be leaving. Well, I guess I understand more now. Look, I've seen a lot of things, I can not judge the decisions that you had to make, but I just wish that I didn't have to grow up without you," Nick told his mother brokenly, voice cracking as tears welled up. Juliette stepped back quietly to give them a little bit more space.

"Sorry," Kelly said hoarsely, smiling wryly.

They came together in a fierce hug, grabbing each others’ backs and holding tightly. It didn’t last very long, and after a moment Kelly patted his back and pulled away.

Nick blinked away the moisture and cleared his throat, "maybe you can help me?" He asked.

"What is it?"

"It's an investigation that I'm working on. I want you to look at this." He pulled out his phone, Juliette stepped closer to see a picture of a bloody scythe, hand painted on a metal wall.

“Where is this?” Kelly asked.

"It's in a shipping container that left Le Havre two weeks ago."

"Do you know what this sign means?"

"Ah, Reapers." 

"And you've dealt with them?" Kelly asked carefully. Juliette wondered what she meant.

"Actually, I've dealt with three," Nick answered, emphasizing the dealt. 

"Was one of them French?"

"We didn't do that much talking," he joked.

"Then you were the one that returned the heads to Mannheim." 

Juliette blinked and looked at him fully. He was still looking at his mother, and didn’t seem to notice she was still there. She was looking at a killer, two, in fact. She knew that Nick had in the past, cases gone horribly wrong and when nothing else was an option. But this was something else. He was casually joking about decapitating people and mailing them to someone? He had killed people, chopped their heads off, and sent them somehow to someone in Germany.

"You know about that?"

"News travels fast," Kelly said, with approval.

"Now, I don't think that that's Reapers."

"No, no, something else drew those. And if it's what I think it is," she walked past Juliette, still standing in a daze, to scan a bookshelf. "It's worse than Reapers. I hope I'm wrong about this." She pulled a book down and flipped through it. "Were there any puncture wounds?"

"There were a lot of wounds," 

Juliette looked over their backs to see a horrifying mix of a man's head and a white tiger’s snarling with impossibly long fangs far too large for the mouth that looked like they might have been straight from a saber-toothed tiger. Or possibly a walrus.

"We need to go," Kelly said, and put the book down quickly.

"Well what about the coins?" 

"Just put them away. I need to see the bodies."

"You can drop me off at home. I can get one of the spare rooms cleared out for all this stuff," Juliette said. It seemed to startle Nick slightly, but Kelly only nodded. 

"You want to move it in?" He asked.

"Yes, this is too important to leave in a lot without any security. We could get get shelves and computers to get it all put away and properly backed up." She meant it too. Nick might be a killer, but they’d deal with it later, when a saber-toothed murderer wasn’t roaming the streets and painting with people’s blood.

"Juliette that would be amazing," he said. Nick reached for her hand, and squeezed it gratefully.

"Yeah, yeah. We need to hurry if you're going to get back in time for that dose."

\--------

Juliette started clearing out one of the spare bedrooms. The one with the futon and that was already more of a storage space than a place for possible friends or family to stay in. She turned her phone up as loud as it would go and set it on the end table. She put on some music, but it didn't do much to distract her, she still checked the time every five minutes or so.

Around two, Monroe wrote to say they were ready whenever and should they just come over? Might as well. She had most of the stuff in the room shoved aside and most of it was still in boxes that they had moved in with.

She still hadn't heard from Nick.

She wrote to him to ask what they found and when they expected to be back.

Monroe and Rosalee showed up soon after and they alternated between sitting around the dining table and pacing. All three of their phones were on the table, as well as the vial of a worryingly cloudy yellow liquid.

It was 2:45 and still no Nick.

"Maybe traffic's bad? It's usually traffic. Where were they going again?" Monroe asked all in one breath.

"To the morgue. That's what the said; Kelly needed to see some bodies to figure out what kind of Wesen killed them for a case Nick's on," Juliette explained for the second time.

"Did they say what they thought it was?" Rosalee, currently the calmest of the three, asked.

"Mauvais Dentes," Juliette recalled from the book.

"Oh, crap, seriously? Uh, I really really hope it's traffic," Monroe said and resumed his pacing.

Juliette picked up her phone and checked the screen. "Why won't he answer? If he's in trouble then I'm going to kill him!"

"Maybe we can hack his GPS or something. You know, like they do on those shows."

"I'm not a hacker Monroe, and while I would love to be able to pop a glowing dot and say for sure where Nick is, I really don't think that it works that way."

"I know, ok. I just hate sitting around like this. It's not good for my regimen."

"Ok, this is a rough situation, but there is some leeway with this and as long as he gets here in a half hour I'm sure everything will be ok,” Rosalee said, but didn’t sound very convinced.

3:15

Juliette's phone started ringing.

"Juliette? It's Kelly. Nick's hurt and he's unconscious. We're not going to make it in time. And he's not breathing regularly anymore," Kelly said, breathing hard and anxious.

Juliette covered her mouth and blinked tears away rapidly. She cleared her throat and managed to say "Ok, forget bringing him back here, he'll need to go to the hospital if he's not breathing correctly." Monroe sat down heavily and Rosalee put her hand over her mouth. Juliette told Kelly what hospital to go to and hung up. "Ok, it might be too late but we'll meet them there and give it to Nick." She stowed her phone away in her pocket and they scrambled to grab their things and run to out of the house. They all piled into Juliette's hatchback and took off to the hospital.

"He'll be fine," Rosalee said, breaking the silence while they were stopped at a red light.

"He has to be," Monroe said.

Juliette barely heard them, a looping video of Nick's chest falling, to only rise a fraction of an inch kept playing in her head.

They parked and jogged into the emergency waiting area. Juliette explained who she was and who she was there to see. She was his emergency medical contact. They told her that she could go back but not their friends, and that his mother was with him and only family could come back right now.

Rosalee clasped Juliette's hands in hers, giving her the vial. She leaned close and whispered that he needed to take the whole thing. She and Monroe sat down and reached for each other's hands.

His came and nurse escorted Juliette back into the ED, explaining that Nick had been brought in by his mother for loss of consciousness and trouble breathing. He had multiple wounds, which his mother only said was due to a case he was on. His breathing has been unsteady and he was put on oxygen. They were monitoring him closely in case it worsened.

The nurse asked her if she knew if he had any allergies that weren't in his history, or if he had eaten or drunk anything strange recently.

Juliette stared between the nurse and Nick through the glass door, remembering what Monroe had said.

"No, he's been having issues with insomnia and stress lately. A case hit him hard and we just thought it was stress and a flu," it felt wrong to lie to a medical professional and withhold medical history, but she knew she had to and that she had to get in there immediately. "I'm sorry, can we go over this in a few minutes? I really need to see him right now."

"Of course, I’ll be over here. I'll be back in a bit," he said and walked over to a computer station.

Juliette closed the door behind her and jerked the curtain closed.

"Do you have it?" Kelly asked beside Nick. She was holding one of his hands and didn't look so great herself.

"Yes, I just hope it's not too late." Juliette eased the oxygen line in his nose to the side, "I really hope you don't aspirate," she said and tipped the vial slowly into his mouth. She gently settled his head back down and straightened the line.

His chest rose, a deep breath finally, before it fell and didn't rise again. The monitor started beeping.

"Nick!" Juliette shouted, putting her hands on the sides of his face. "Nick! Nurse! He's not breathing!"

The door slammed open and the nurse darted in. He saw them, then looked at the monitor now rising in volume to a screech.

"Code blue! Get a crash cart!" She yelled out of the door.

Juliette and Kelly were shoved out of the room as a large cart and a crowd of people surrounded the room.

It was 3:40.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PHEW OMG that took forever. I halfway wanted to skip some of that, since it sort of ended up as regurgitated from the show, but I wanted Juliette's eye on it. 
> 
> Also, sorry?
> 
> Life sort of got crazy...I got accepted to grad school, started a business, and started my designing back up. So....yeah.
> 
> So, originally Nick was going to make it, and this was all going to go into a completely different direction, but it hit me one day at work how this will all pan out and it hinged on Nick not getting that dose.
> 
> Stuff is going to diverge a lot more from now on, and I am going to have to finagle some stuff into place. There may be some plot holes. Also, I haven't finished season 3 still. My mom informs me that Juliette gets more awesome and I need to hurry up.
> 
> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> PS. that section break is supposed to be a car :)


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a bit of time jumping in this chapter, let me know if it is not clear enough.

It was too quiet. Nick shouldn’t be this still, should be smiling and bounding from one pursuit to another. He shouldn’t be this pale, had never been so pale, even when sick or in shock. 

Juliette felt rather sick and in shock herself. She was slouched in an uncomfortable chair beside his still form, a hand on the bed railing and the other covering his cool fingers, trying to give him what warmth she could. 

The monitor beeped as his oxygen levels fell too low again, his heart rate still sluggish, before quieting as he swung back to where he had been. It had been like this all night, swinging back and forth after they had stabilized him. He was stable, but only due to the tubes and wires that seemed to cover him. Nose, mouth, arms, she had never seen so many IV lines on a single person. 

They had been too late. Nick and Kelly had gone off chasing a fanged mass murderer and she’d been, what? Sorting boxes and fretting over her phone. There had been no reason she had to do it then. She could have helped more, could have done something that wouldn’t have been entirely in the way. But she wasn’t a cop, wasn’t a Grimm, she didn’t know the first thing about potions or curses or magic. Sure, she could shoot a gun, but before the other night she had never pointed one at another human being, or Grimm, or Wesen for that matter. 

She sat, hunched and exhausted beside Nick, tiredly but repeatedly going over the last week. There had to have been more she could have done, had to have done something wrong. Had to be something she could still do.

CODE BLUE FOURTH FLOOR OHVI loudly burst through the speakers out in the hall, then repeated twice more by a man with a voice that was far too serene for the gravity of the announcement. She froze and listened as several sets of feet ran out of the unit. That phrase would follow her the rest of her life after yesterday. 

\---

Her and Kelly had only just been directed out into the emergency waiting area, where they had met Rosalee and Monroe’s hopeful eyes from where they were still sitting. The two had stood eagerly, though when they saw their faces, no doubt in shock, Rosalee had rushed her, grabbing her tightly into a hug that drew looks. Monroe had just stood with a hand over his mouth, looking faint. The overhead had announced a code blue, both silencing everyone and deafening the quiet. 

When it ended the murmur of voices returned, and they moved to the back, away from onlookers to wait for news. It took a tiny eternity. They sat in silence, none of them even able to pace with all the tension. Nick was back there dying, and there was nothing any of them could do.

Juliette didn’t remember much after she sat down.

Someone came out to update them, she had no idea who, hadn’t remembered anyone since they had arrived. Nick was alive. Not well, but alive. They were admitting him to one of the ICUs, and they could go up to that waiting area. Nick was alive and he was being stabilized. Someone would tell them there when they could go back into the room. 

 

The waiting area they were taken to was much more set aside and made to feel more homey. There was a see-through fireplace partially dividing the room into two more seemingly private areas. A small kitchen area with coffee that she knew not to trust and a table covered with a half done puzzle was abandoned to the side. The volunteer at the desk took their information and pointed out the unused tv towards the back. 

Juliette stepped aside and called the only other person who she knew needed to hear about Nick’s condition: Hank. She hoped she wasn’t interrupting anything, but he answered after only two rings. 

She wasn’t going to cry.

He said he had just been about to call Nick, he was needed for a case. She told him enough, that he was in the hospital and unconscious, that she was waiting to hear if he was going to be ok. He said that as soon as they let him go he was on his way, and not to worry, he would inform the precinct. Was she alone, did she need anything? She needed Nick’s cure. But she didn’t say anything, just thanked him and hung up a little too quickly and returned to the others. 

“What were you doing anyway? You knew he needed to be back by 3!” Monroe hissed with barely contained rage at Kelly. His eyes were red.

She stood tall and stiff, staring into his eyes as though she could carve with a look. “The Mauvais Dentes called Nick, it had FBI agents hostage. One was dead, and he was going to kill the other if he didn’t go,” she whispered fiercely, jaw and fists clenched. “There wasn’t anyone else we could have called. It would have ripped them apart. We had to go, but it wasn’t expecting two Grimms. We killed it,” she clipped her syllables and tilted her head with the last sentence.

“Great,” Monroe said, slumping and losing the burning eyes, “of course Nick was off being a hero,” he thinned his lips, looking apologetic, and sat down beside Rosalee. “Did you save the FBI agent?” 

“No,” Kelly sighed and sat down with an empty seat between her and Rosalee. “She was dead before we got there, probably right after he had made her call.”

“So,” Juliette cut in, standing in front of the seats with her hands on her hips. “Is there any way to reverse this?”

“Not without knowing exactly what kind of poison it was. If we knew exactly how it was made, maybe even had the spell, then I might be able to make an antidote, I read everything I could find on this, and there was nothing about a second cure. But I don’t own that shop for nothing. If I had the spell then I could make something.”

“But he said that it was probably Adalind that did it, and she’s been missing for ages,” Monroe said.

“You just leave that to me, I’m not that bad of a detective myself,” Kelly said and smiled with her teeth.

“We’ll keep looking, call around to see if anyone else had ever heard of anything like this,” Rosalee said and stood up.

“But first, we’ll get you something to eat since that’s been, like, pfft who even knows anymore,” Monroe said and followed her out. 

Kelly looked conflicted, and kept looking over to where Juliette had sat down. Eventually Kelly said that she was leaving, but that she would be back soon. She made sure that Juliette had her number in case anything changed, and left.

She just sat there, not really paying attention to anything, but watching everything around her. There was a family across the fireplace watching television too loud and eating take-out from cartons. The volunteer was someone else, an older caucasian woman who was knitting and staring off into space. 

Nick’s phone started buzzing. A missed call from an unknown number and texts full of condolences from officers were coming in. She read two before putting it out of sight in her purse. Thankfully Rosalee and Monroe returned soon after. They handed her a takeaway carton that was lukewarm, a bottle of juice, and a bundle of cutlery and napkins. 

With promises to keep in contact if any changes or discoveries were to happen Monroe and Rosalee left to begin searching for a cure. Juliette opened the container and looked down at the congealed casserole-like mass accompanied by greasy baby carrots. Her stomach clenched, and she was tempted to just throw it away, but she really hadn’t eaten anything in some time and it might help to have some food in her system. She ate slowly, taking small bites and chewing them fully, not tasting anything, but eating mechanically, repetitively, as she looked out the window into a small courtyard garden seemingly entirely of overgrown rhododendrons. Eventually her stomach felt heavy, and she dropped the entire mess into a trash can, only keeping the juice for later. She sat back down and rubbed the bridge of her nose, trying to disperse the growing pain building behind her eyes. When she opened them again in the too bright area Hank was talking to the volunteer. She pointed at Juliette and went back to her knitting. Juliette opened her hand in a lazy wave as he saw her, and stood to greet him with a hug.

“Have you heard anything?” He asked as they broke apart and sat down. “They have any idea what’s wrong?” 

“No,” Juliette sighed, pausing to collect what exactly she should tell him. “He’s stable and we should be able to go back soon. It’s, he might have been poisoned,” she said deciding to let him in somewhat, even if the details were blurred. 

“What?” Hank said harshly. “Did they say with what? Is this why he wasn’t sleeping?” He asked, voice hard as he moved from friend to detective. She blinked, looked him fully in the eye at the sudden change, and pulled up short at what she saw. His eyes were pink with irritation and open just slightly too wide to be right, the skin underneath just dark enough to show the stress collecting.

“Hank, have you been sleeping?” She asked with new-found dread clenching around the already unsettled food.

He looked mildly panicked, drew back in the seat and looked away. “Yes, just, not well.” There was a moment of silence, the both of them coming up with their own worries. “It’s not,” he started and paused, voice soft and strained, “it’s not that. Just some bad dreams.”

Juliette tried not to show her distress, if Hank was experiences the same symptoms…

“Ms Silverton?” A woman in faded blue scrubs asked from next to the fireplace. She shot to her feet, Hank only an instant behind. The woman stepped closer and lowered her voice. “Nick is stabilized and has been intubated. Do you want me to explain what that means?”

Juliette shook her head, tears threatening to rise though she knew this was coming. “No, thank you, but I know the process.”

“Ok, but if you have any questions we can go over them, or we have handouts if you would rather have them. There are some already in the room. Now, you can go back into the room, and any family except children under five; there’s been whooping cough outbreaks. But for now we’re putting him under low stimulus orders, so friends can visit but we are asking for no more than two people in the room at once. Do you have any questions?”

“Do you have any idea why this happened?” Juliette swallowed hard, eyes bright but dry as she asked.

“It’s not clear at the moment, we need to run some tests, but we need you to read through the procedures and sign the consent forms. If you’ll follow me I’ll take you to his room.” She asked, already turning.

“Hank, you don’t have,” Juliette started to say, but stopped when Hank took her hand in his.

“I’ve got nowhere to be tonight,” he said and squeezed her hand. 

 

\-----

Hank had stayed as long as he could, but he had been called back into the precinct after less than an hour. The FBI were involved and asking questions. He couldn’t give her details but she had realized as he had explained why he had to leave that it was investigating the death of the Mauvais Dentes and FBI agents. 

She had text Kelly as soon as Hank was gone, didn’t say anything specific, but that she was looking forward to hearing from her. If the FBI were involved they would have to careful about what went through the phones. A response didn’t come immediately, had taken almost an hour, but when it did she knew that Kelly was on the same page of care. She was glad to hear from her and would be in town soon, unless she had other plans for the night? Juliette had responded that it would be fine and to take care in traffic. She had settled into the chair beside Nick’s bed and begun her vigil. 

The chair was really uncomfortable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, wow, this chapter was just fits and starts the whole way through. 
> 
> NICK AINT DEAD! BUT WHAT ABOUT SEASON TWO WESEN SHENANIGANS? I think I have my stuff all plotted out and working, but as this continues if any keen-eyed folks catch weird inconsistencies or complete tomfoolery then feel free to throw a line my way either here or my Tumblr: http://infamous-sodomite.tumblr.com/ Let's talk fandom!


	16. Chapter 16

There had been multiple people coming in and out of the room, mostly to introduce themselves and check vitals or to talk to Juliette about people and tests that would be occurring later that day. But besides these disruptions, she was alone with Nick through the night and into the morning.

Juliette looked up as the glass door was slid open. Kelly ducked around the closed curtain. She looked to Nick first, always Nick first, then to the monitor and finally to Juliette. She smiled tiredly and lifted two large coffee travel cups.

“It’s Starbucks, apparently, but that didn’t look like a Starbucks.”

“Probably sell the brand,” Juliette said briefly, not feeling up to fully explaining. She took the offered cup and slumped back into the chair.

Kelly sat down in a chair beside Juliette and they both sat in silence, surrounded by the whirring and beeps of a hospital room that is never itself quiet. 

“You ok?” Juliette asked, feeling foolish but still needing to say it.

Kelly didn’t answer right away, she kept watching Nick, and took a drink from her cup before saying anything. “No, but I’ll be fine.” She turned her head to look at Juliette. “Same goes for you. We’ll figure this out, we’ll save Nicky, and I’ll rain hell down those that did this to him.” She took another sip, then sighed and nodded. “That’s the plan.”

They could hear people out in the hallway from time to time, the glass door doing well at sound dampening but not stopping it entirely. There were a couple of people that laughed really loudly, and added a strange and unwelcome addition to the atmosphere. The sounds of people working and talking had picked up and changed throughout the morning, but now it was different. Kelly switched to watching the clock, that read it to be 07:50, and the door.

“Does anything in particular happen around eight?” she asked.

“Not that I know about.”

A light knock at the door preceded the day nurse Brandon, a short, balding man wearing a stethoscope with Superman fabric scrunched along it. 

“Sorry to interrupt, but there are two FBI agents here with some questions for you,” he said to Juliette, “They’re waiting in conference room B out in the hallway.” He looked at Nick, checking him over, and ducked back out. 

Before Juliette could say anything, Kelly caught her arm and held tightly. She made eye contact with Juliette and spoke with them the seriousness of the situation. Kelly began speaking slowly and clearly, “I’m not his mom, there was confusion in the emergency department because we have the same name. I’m a friend of the family, basically an aunt. I was in town visiting when this happened and I’m staying for a few weeks to help you in this difficult time. Don’t give anything unless they push for it, it didn’t seem important so why would you think of it?” 

Juliette nodded along, understanding how badly this could go if they found out Kelly was still alive and what they were involved with. Kelly smoothed her hands down Juliette’s arms as though in apology for the gruffness and continued. “Now, try to find out what you can, but don’t push. Remember, concerned ignorance is less questionable than directness. But then, I don’t think they’ll push too hard with him in a coma. But we can’t be too careful here.” Kelly dropped her arms and smiled, “You’ll do fine.”

Juliette nodded and breathed in and out deeply before standing. She checked herself in the window between the rooms, dark and reflective with the curtain behind it. She looked awful, tired and messy; it would probably help her here. 

She brought her coffee with her.  
She was led out to the waiting area and handed off to the two suited agents. They motioned her inside the conference room before saying anything.

"Hello Ms Silverton, I'm agent Lofthouse, and this is agent Kosloski. Please take a seat; we have a few questions about your fiance's recent case."

"We're not engaged," she ground out, too tired and suddenly angry to deal with whatever they were going to pull. Unfortunately this only outlined the rest of the near interrogation.

 

She emerged twenty minutes later shaking in anger and probably exhaustion. Both. She returned to the room to find herself alone with Nick. She stood at his side and smoothed his hair aside as she dwelled over their questions.

Kelly crept into the room, watching behind her as she ducked around the curtain. "So, how did it go?" She asked, looking Juliette over and raising an eyebrow at whatever she saw.

"They don't have anything. They kept trying to goad me into breaking down or yell at them. Which is just rude. They know the FBI agent called Nick, they want access to his gun to compare to the shots fired. I told them that it was at home and I would go get it and bring it to the precinct. But I'll bring the handgun from the foyer."

Kelly cut her off with a pointed hmmmm. "that won't work," she shook her head and thinned her lips "They have all of that on record, every officer is."

"Then why did they ask for it?"

"Probably to see if he was stupid enough to ditch it," Kelly paused, thinking. "And we can't have it disappear, that'll look just as suspicious, and the rounds will have been processed already." She hissed angrily and stepped up to the side of the bed. "I've been careless. I should have collected them before we left, should have known he wouldn't know not to use his own weapon." She caressed the back of his hand and went silent.

"Kelly, your son was unconscious and barely breathing, it's ok that you were careless,” Juliette said, trying to offer any comfort back.

"You foolish boy." Kelly whispered.

They stood in quiet contemplation, both looking down to Nick's pale face.

"I'll go home, get his gun and take it to the station,” Juliette said, ready for any kind of action after sitting staring at him for so long.

"Get some sleep while you're out." Juliette opened her mouth to argue but Kelly continued. "I'll keep watch, and you need to take what you can, when you can."  
\------

She was fine until she got in the car. It took all her concentration to keep focused on the road. She was shocked into panic when she almost ran a red light, honking alerting her to the fact that she would have drove into the side of a bus. She needed to get home, and off the road. For the rest of the drive one hand lay on her thigh, pinching with frequency just in case there was a repeat, though her heart was beating fast enough that she doubted she would be able to fall asleep in the next hour or more.

When she got home she dug Nick's gun out from his things. Would they already know, were they at the hospital checking over Nick for more evidence. They couldn't arrest him while he was in the hospital in a coma. They could charge him, but he would still be there when she returned. Her mind raced, panicked and directionless. She needed some more insight.

She called Hank.

"Juliette, hey, is everything ok?" He asked as soon as the call connected.

"Yeah, no," she corrected and sighed, "Two FBI agents came to the hospital."

"What? I'm sorry, I wasn't aware. They were here this morning; I would have come if I knew they were going to be harassing you."

"No, it's ok, they weren't complete assholes,” she said, earning a huffed out a laugh. "But they wanted Nick's gun, I'm supposed to bring it by."

"Oh, don't worry about that, they already ran it through the system. Big surprise, Nick was not out and about shooting anyone recently,” Hank said, laughing again.

Juliette couldn't breath. What?

"Juliette? Hey, you ok?" Hank asked, voice turning serious. She shook her head, realizing that she was obliviously staring at, of all things, the smoke detector.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm just really tired and glad I don't have to come by."

"Hey, get some sleep ok! I'll come by later and harass you."

She said thanks and Hank ended the call, the now disconnect phone still resting against her face. If Nick’s gun was in the database then how did it come up as not him? Did it not match? Then how? 

Juliette couldn’t even finish her thoughts and decided she was in fact tired enough to sleep. Right on the couch worked for her. She slid sideways, pulling the quilt from the back as she laid down.

She would just sleep for a little bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOOOOOO BOY.  
> Ok. Wow.   
> Ended 9 year relationship.  
> Moved out one roommate, moved in another.  
> Started Grad School.  
> Got disgustingly sick.  
> UPDATED GRIMM FIC!  
> Checklist done! (Checklist never ending)
> 
> There is a steadily declining amount of editing happening with this story, but it is happening. 
> 
> And now I have biostatistics homework to smash my face against.


	17. Chapter 17

Juliette woke with confusion and panic, heart pounding and trying to beat its way through her head. She jerked upright and almost toppled off of the couch. It took a second, but she remembered where she was and why. She groaned and rubbed at her face. It was day still, but other than that she had no idea how long she'd slept, not enough, but still too long. Besides the pounding headache and insistent hammering at her heart she felt a bit better. Juliette fumbled for her phone, finding it overheated underneath her. Four hours. Not enough by a long shot, but long enough to worry about getting back. No one had written her so she hoped nothing had happened while she was out.

She wanted to go straight back to the hospital, wanted to call Kelly and verify if everything was ok, but Juliette knew she needed to take care of a couple of things before going back. She needed to pack a bag or two, had to face that this was possibly going to be a long term stay and needed to plan accordingly. She would need to talk to her work, her shifts were being covered but this was not supposed to be a long term arrangement, and while she was well liked there was only so far that would carry her. She could use up her vacation if they could cover for her, but she didn’t think she could get FMLA approval. She sighed and rubbed at her face eyes again, it was hard to concentrate on such important planning when her head pounded like this. Before calling and packing she would need to take care of herself first.

A shower, a hot shower to work out this tension that had gripped her entire back and shoulders, the couch probably hadn’t helped that in any way. She was probably dehydrated, which compounded the tension. Shower, kombucha, pills and food first, then packing and calling work before rushing back to the hospital. She felt guilty for taking so much time, but knew that Kelly was watching over him and if there was any change or complication she would inform her. 

 

It helped. Her head still felt like it was screwed on too tight, but she no longer felt like putting on her sunglasses inside the house. Work would not be able to approve FMLA but they had already petitioned people to cover her while she used up her vacation and sick time, which was much fuller. She was assured that they would work with her to find a balance of work and caring for Nick. She had never before been so thankful for having a position that granted such privileges, and she almost began crying with the relief in knowing that she worked with such compassionate people and that she would still have a job when this was all over. 

Juliette made coffee stronger than she usually drank, needing the caffeine. She ate a granola bar and thought about what food she should bring with her. She leaned on a counter in the kitchen, scalding her mouth on gulps of hot coffee as she wrote out a list out of possible things to pack, basics, toiletries, electronics and necessary cords. She began wandering through the downstairs, looking around the house for anything that might have escaped her. She stopped next to the couch, and looked down at the quilt that the repairman, Bud, had brought with all those other gifts. Nick hadn’t seemed too attached to the gift, but she thought it might be nice to add a measure of hominess to the bleak hospital room. She took another gulp of the over-brewed coffee and wondered if she could bring the coffee pot. There would be a lot of bad coffee in her future if she didn’t. She might get away with it, though it was probably considered a fire hazard. She wasn’t going to push the issue yet.

Juliette packed and gathered several luggage bags together and loaded up. The drive was much less troubling, no buses were injured in the trip. She saw and felt people watching her wheel the luggage through the lobby, though no one said anything to her. The volunteer outside the ICU signed her in, asking about the luggage and offered their condolences at a lack of improvement. 

Juliette walked, arms dragging behind her with her load, into the room to a sight that stopped her in her tracks. Like a strange cafe scene, sharing the over-bed table was Kelly and Hank. Travel cups and a muffin each between them. They both looked up when Juliette came in and they looked like they were getting along well, which was good, they were both important people in hers and Nick’s lives, but it hit her that they could be trouble.

“Hey! How come I never knew Nick had another Aunt?” Hank asked her, indicating Kelly with a tilt of his head.

“I’m not actually his Aunt,” Kelly said in a patient tone that suggested this was not the first time she had said it.

“Well, practically, apparently,” Hank said, he looked hurt at the idea that he had been left out from this knowledge, if Juliette’s own hurt at not knowing about an entire facet of Nick’s life was anything to project…”Oh!” He stood quickly and turned to help Juliette.

“I got it. I didn’t know either until not too long ago. You know how much he talks about his childhood,” she said, thinking that it might have been a bit mean to Kelly. She left the luggage in the corner next to the over-sized chair that pulled down to be a cot and sat down in it as it was the last chair in the room. It was lower to the ground than the other chairs and put her level with the table. “So where’s mine?” She asked, looking at the coffee and muffins. 

Hank sat down while looking sheepish. “Well, I didn’t know I was providing for a family reunion.” He slid the rest of his muffin over to her. “But since some people can’t feed themselves…”

“And out of the four of us here that would be me,” Juliette scoffed, everyone looked somewhat embarrassed, except for Nick, who just looked somewhat comatose. Juliette realized that she had begun devolving into gallows humor, which only told her how not ok she was dealing with this entire situation. “How are you doing Hank?” she asked, realizing that they hadn’t really talked lately, besides yesterday, and that had focused on Nick and herself.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me,” he said and took a drink from his coffee, obviously trying to hide behind it. Juliette blankly and frankly stared at him, not believing a word coming out of his denial-filled mouth. “Ugh, you look like my ex,” he leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling. 

Juliette and Kelly shared a look, Kelly may not know him well but she clearly shared Juliette’s opinion of his empty reassurance. 

“Ok, fine! Stop talking about me with your judgmental eyes. Women,” he shook his head in slow disbelief. “I told you I haven’t been sleeping so well. Just stress. Some bad dreams,” he said and quickly kept talking when Juliette opened her mouth, “there’s been some,” he paused, “violent cases lately. Wackos coming out of the woodwork. I’m taking care of it,” he said in response to the concerned look Juliette was giving him.

She chewed at her lip and really, really hoped this wasn’t going where she thought it might be.

“You’ve been having nightmares?” She asked. Hank looked quickly over at Kelly and looked embarrassed.

“I wouldn’t quite put it that way,” he said, eyes tightening as he spoke and there he went hiding behind his coffee again.

“Have,” Juliette paused, and tried to think of how to ask this without frankly putting it, “have you not been sleeping at all? Can’t sleep?” She realized she was looking at Nick. Hank followed her gaze and relaxed in understanding. He put down his coffee and leaned towards her.

“Not like that. It’s, well it’s not like that,” he trailed off. “It’s just stress, I would be in here too if I got dosed.”

“That’s what Nick was saying. He just kept saying it was stress from recent cases,” Juliette said, and looked to Kelly, tried to silently apologize for not catching him quicker.

“Well, he’s an idiot,” Hank said fondly, looking over at Nick as though to make sure he hadn’t overheard. They sat around for another fifteen minutes, where Kelly and Hank exchanged stories of Nick’s antics throughout the parts of his life they had been a part of. But Hank apologized before too long and told them that he had to get back to the precinct, that he only got to get away for a bit while the Feds held up some information. He was worried about the possibility of poisoning and made Juliette promise to call him if the doctors found anything else out about that. If there was a poisoner targeting cops they had hell coming to them. He also left his muffin in front of Juliette with an eyebrow raise before turning to leave.

The two of them weren’t alone for long before someone ducked into the room. A respiratory therapist, they introduced themselves and went about checking the monitor and the machine that was keeping Nick breathing. It was somewhat awkward, as the two of them wanted to know what the person was doing, but did not much understand the technicality that they described. Nor was the stilted small talk that the person tried to start up much help. Juliette and Kelly did not much want to continue talking with an excluded person in the room either. And just like that Juliette’s phone rang, like an answered prayer Monroe flashed across her screen. She showed the screen to Kelly before answering.

“Hi, Monroe, find anything?”

“Hey, Juliette,” he said, sounding a little distorted, like over speaker phone. “Not yet, sorry. But me and Rosalee are here at the shop and something weird just happened.” Kelly watched Juliette closely, obviously eager to be a part of the conversation, but Juliette didn’t dare put the phone on speaker with another person in the room.

Rosalee came over the phone, a little bit louder than Monroe and definitely on speaker. “A Hexienbiest just came into the shop and ordered several ingredients that didn’t make much sense together. I thought maybe she was just topping up her stock, but these are not everyday ingredients.”

“So we looked them up in some of Rosalee’s books and we think we know what she’s doing,” Monroe added, speaking as soon as she ended.

“We think she’s making a wake up potion.”

“Or something like that.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen but it’s theoretical that together these ingredients could make something along those lines.”

“Which we have no way of knowing or testing.”

“No, but it gives me a way to focus my questions for my contacts. Now, some of the things I have to order out and it will take a couple days to get. She left me her number to call her when I get them.”

“Ok, I’ll write that down,” Juliette said, finally getting a word in without interrupting. She picked up a golf pencil laying on the table and slid over a paper on skin care.

“Okay,” Monroe said, drawing out the word.

“503-555-0138,” Rosalee said.

Juliette wrote it down and said “Thank you so much for calling, it means a lot to know that Nick’s missed.”

“Uh huh, I take it you can’t actually talk then,” Monroe asked, not sounding too impressed.

“No, there haven’t been any changes, but they’re taking good care of him. There’s someone from Respiratory therapy here right now.” The person turned and smiled and waved at her.

Monroe snorted a little laugh and Rosalee said, “ok then, why don’t you call us back when you can and we can go over everything.”

“Ok, you take care too," Juliette said and hung up. Kelly was sitting, watching Nick breathing and for all outward appearances was not anxious about the call. The RT finished what they were doing and said their goodbyes, promising to be back later.

As soon as they were sure they were gone, Juliette turned to Kelly and filled her in on the phone call. Kelly leaned in at the mention of a Hexenbiest and copied out the phone number on a scrap piece of paper.

"What are you going to do?" Juliette asked as Kelly was writing.

"I have some questions for this Hexenbiest. It won't take long." Juliette didn't think this person would be so forthcoming. She also didn't want to know what kind of asking Kelly was planning on, Juliette figured that it was better not to know. But she hoped that this person wasn't just in the wrong place buying the wrong stuff. She didn't know enough about them, had only heard vague witch references about Adalind. She didn't know if they were all like that. She didn't know if all the Wesen were like their namesakes, although after meeting Monroe she didn't think so.

Kelly left her and promised to be back before too long. Juliette called Rosalee and Monroe back, they would probably want to hear about this.

\---

"What do you mean she's dead?" Juliette hissed, yelling in all ways but volume. 

“I mean that she was less than cooperative, and we had a bit of an argument,” Kelly said. Not too much noise filtered in and out of the room, but it was far from soundproofed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just going to hide my face and post a chapter after months. 
> 
> I really obsess over the details and individual sentence structure. I had about five passes over this chapter, sometimes just changing word choices to slightly change the meaning. I can't look at it anymore so here.


	18. HIATUS ANNOUNCEMENT :(

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOT AN ACTUAL CHAPTER, JUST MY SHAME FACE

I apologize if you got excited about a new chapter, this is not one. I am sorry to announce that this story is currently in hiatus due to graduate school slowly killing me.

I AM trying to work on this but I honestly can not predict when a chapter will be ready. 

Again, I feel like stinking trash, but it is what it is, and I hope to return to this world when time allows and my muse returns.


End file.
